New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has expanded a program that puts more translators at polling places across the city, but good government groups fear they won't be able to connect with voters.

That's because the city's Board of Election is requiring them to set up more than 100 feet away.

Common Cause New York is demanding the mayor's office and the city's Board of Elections get on the same page in order to serve the needs of New Yorkers. 

"This is a very solvable situation if you have two entities that want to serve the voters and not politically posture," said Susan Lerner, the group's executive director. A voter is allowed to bring one of the translators inside the polling place to help them cast their ballot, but according to the city, the Board of Elections is requiring the translators to adhere to electioneering laws and thus demanding that they stay away from the building's entrance.

Lerner contested that interpretation and said Common Cause helped provide bipartisan training to the translators.

"This is not electioneering by any stretch of the imagination therefore the statuary restriction should not apply," she said. "So the translators set up in one place and the people coming in the other direction don't even know that they're there."

The Board of Elections does provide some translation services in a handful of languages depending on the poll site, including Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Hindi, Bengali and Punjabi. They provide the minimum required by federal law so as not to incur what Michael Ryan, the executive director of the board called a "snowball effect."

"The real, not imagined fear is that we provide voluntarily services to an additional group that will give rise to other groups coming forward," he said. "'Hey, wait a second. You gave services to that group. I want the same services as well.'"

Last year the mayor's office began a pilot program to send its own translators to help fill the gap, by serving speakers of additional langues: Russian, Italian, Arabic, Haitian, Creole, Polish and Yiddish. But at 101 feet away from the building, it's unclear how helpful they'll be to voters.

Raul Contreras, a spokesman for the mayor's office said they hoped in future elections the translators would be allowed to station themselves inside the polling place.

"We believe this will increase accessibility for New Yorkers who need these services to fully exercise their democratic rights," he said.