With four Korean-Americans running for three City Council seats you would think the Board of Elections would be better prepared.  However, according to the Asian American Legal Defense Fund, that not only is there an unprecedentedly high Korean-American turnout but also a severe lack of Korean interpreters. 

Glen Magpantay, an attorney with the advocacy group, said Board of Elections officials are struggling to deal with an uptick in the number of Korean Americans turning out to the polls.

“We’ve seen it go up every year actually. More Korean Americans are becoming citizens and registering to vote,” he said. “Unfortunately that means there’s a greater need for interpreters and that’s just not something the BOE can handle if they don’t have them.”

I for one am very disappointed with the city.  Although turnout was already predicted to be very low, anyone with half a brain could see that this would be a historic election for Korean-Americans in New York City. The Board of Elections response so far has been pedestrian, sending out "response teams" rather than more interpreters.

So far, no other problems have been reported regarding interpreters or voting irregularities.  At the very least, it's a refreshing change from last year where accusations of voter fraud flew back and forth in last year's State Assembly race in Flushing.

Polls close tonight at 9pm.  Be sure to get out and vote if you haven't yet.