By Nathan Duke
An organization that protects the civil rights of Asian Americans said it is investigating complaints of voter harassment during the Nov. 3 City Council race between Dan Halloran and Kevin Kim, who is Korean American.
Glenn Magpantay, a staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the group is looking into whether any laws were broken at the polls during the general election race between Halloran, an Auburndale Republican, and Kim, a Bayside Democrat.
“The number of complaints have been more than in any other race I’ve seen before,” Magpantay said. “One volunteer told us that a couple of white guys told her not to vote for Kevin Kim because of his race. We observed a couple of incidents, including a commissioner of elections allegedly not allowing a voter who did not speak English to use an interpreter. It’s very reminiscent of what happened in the Deep South with African-American voters during the 1950s and 1960s.”
Halloran defeated Kim 53 percent to 47 percent in the election. Magpantay said the aim of the AALDEF investigation was not an attempt to change the election’s outcome.
“We’re not looking to challenge election results in any way,” he said. “We’re looking at whether the law has been violated.”
Manreet Gurm, a northeast Queens high school student, said she filed a complaint with the AALDEF after volunteering for Kim’s campaign on election day.
“Halloran’s campaigner was right across from me,” she said. “He was saying Kevin Kim is some Chinese guy and that Chinese people were taking over the neighborhood.”
Steven Stites, a spokesman for Halloran, said the councilman-elect “rejects any attempts to divide the community.”
“Dan won because we mobilized our volunteers,” he said. “We were telling people to support Dan because of the issues, such as overdevelopment.”
The AALDEF will release a report on its findings following the investigation and file it with the city Board of Elections. Magpantay said the group decided to pursue the matter as a result of the Election Day complaints coupled with an October incident during which two Kim volunteers were harassed while campaigning on Francis Lewis Boulevard.
During that incident, a group of young men shouted racial slurs at two Kim volunteers in their 20s as they passed out fliers. The 109th Precinct confirmed a report on the confrontation had been filed.
No allegations have been made against specific individuals. But Kim’s and Halloran’s camps threw out accusations of racial and religious discrimination during the heated campaign for the Council seat.
Magpantay said he was not sure what actions the BOE could take on the complaints.
“Right now, we’re interviewing voters who feel they were harassed or denied language assistance, as well as campaign volunteers or individuals who were witnesses to inappropriate and possibly illegal conduct that may have violated the federal Voting Rights Act,” he said.
The act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, outlaws discriminatory practices that prevented African Americans from voting.
The Board of Elections could not be reached for comment.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
