On Jan 11, 2:13*am, "Ira IRa IRA Humperdink MD
" wrote:
is prostitution legal or "overlooked by authorities" in the special
autonomous regions of china? *will their be lots of prostitution at
the olympics?

Asian voters in US 'got raw deal'
By Brajesh Upadhyay
BBC News, Washington



Asian Americans make up 3.6% of the US population
Many Asian American voters faced discrimination from voting officials
during 2006 mid-term elections in the US, a civil rights group has
alleged.

The report is based on a multilingual exit poll conducted among 4,700
Asian American voters in 25 US cities.

It documents alleged violations of the Voting Rights Act and Help
America Vote Act and cases of "anti-Asian attitude".

According to a 2000 census, the US has more than 10 million Asian
Americans, comprising 3.6% of its population.

'Rude behaviour'

The report by the Asian American Legal Defence and Education Fund
(AALDEF), a 34-year-old civil rights organisation, comes as
presidential primaries are in full swing in the United States.

They must learn English if they want to realise their American
dream

Saghir Tahir,
New Hampshire legislator

The group alleges that poll workers were hostile towards Asian
American voters, particularly those not fluent in English, during
voting in 2006.

Many voters complained of "rude or hostile behaviour" and an
"unhelpful attitude about election procedures", the report said.

It said 59 Asian American voters had complained.

In New York, 83% of voters who were asked to show identification were
not legally required to do so, the report says.

It says English-speaking voters were not asked for ID.

The discrimination was "racially motivated and at the same time also
demonstrated a bureaucratic approach", AALDEF lawyer Glenn D Magpantay
told the BBC.

The survey found 40% of Pakistani-origin, 38% of Bangladeshi-origin
and 17% of Indian origin-voters could not speak English well. One-
third of Urdu speakers and the same number of Bengali speakers said
they needed the assistance of interpreters in order to vote.

The report says some poll workers made disparaging remarks about such
assistance.

"One poll worker in New York said she thought it was a waste of the
taxpayers' money to pay for so many interpreters.

"Another poll worker commented that she did not think they should be
required to provide multilingual material and voters should learn
English," the report says.

It also said Chinese American voters had been given Spanish-language
ballots in New York.

No response

Many Asian Americans' names were missing or misspelt in voter lists at
polling stations, the report found.

Copies of the report and letters of complaint have been sent to the US
Department of Justice for investigation, the AALDEF says.

The BBC contacted the voting section of the department, both by phone
and e-mail. There was no immediate response to the allegations.

However, a Republican state representative of South Asian origin,
Saghir "Saggy" Tahir, said he was not aware of such discrimination in
his community.

"I am in my fourth term in the state legislature but I have never
heard of any such complaint," says Mr Tahir, who was the first Asian
American Muslim elected to this level in the Republican Party.

He says the easiest thing for people is to blame others for their
inconvenience.

"I can only advise that they must learn English if they want to
realise their American dream," says the New Hampshire legislator, who
arrived in the US in 1972 from Lahore.