Why is the MoCo election ballot in english and spanish? Only citizens can vote, right?

[Anonymous]

Troll not even trying to look like a real poster.

[Anonymous]

People asked this 20 years ago, and its as perplexing today as then.

Almost all election content is in English, outside of a few targeted adds here and there. So either this is pure virtue signaling, or very low information voters are voting. Not sure which is worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People asked this 20 years ago, and its as perplexing today as then.

Almost all election content is in English, outside of a few targeted adds here and there. So either this is pure virtue signaling, or very low information voters are voting. Not sure which is worse.

You might be perplexed, but most people are not perplexed. Maybe you're one of those very low information voters you're worried about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People asked this 20 years ago, and its as perplexing today as then.

Almost all election content is in English, outside of a few targeted adds here and there. So either this is pure virtue signaling, or very low information voters are voting. Not sure which is worse.

You might be perplexed, but most people are not perplexed. Maybe you're one of those very low information voters you're worried about?

Maybe I am, but I'm willing to learn. Where are non-English speaking voters getting information about things like bond issuances, Board of Education positions, initiatives and the like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People asked this 20 years ago, and its as perplexing today as then.

Almost all election content is in English, outside of a few targeted adds here and there. So either this is pure virtue signaling, or very low information voters are voting. Not sure which is worse.

You might be perplexed, but most people are not perplexed. Maybe you're one of those very low information voters you're worried about?

Maybe I am, but I'm willing to learn. Where are non-English speaking voters getting information about things like bond issuances, Board of Education positions, initiatives and the like?

Find some to ask, and ask them.

Or mind your own business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People asked this 20 years ago, and its as perplexing today as then.

Almost all election content is in English, outside of a few targeted adds here and there. So either this is pure virtue signaling, or very low information voters are voting. Not sure which is worse.

You might be perplexed, but most people are not perplexed. Maybe you're one of those very low information voters you're worried about?

Maybe I am, but I'm willing to learn. Where are non-English speaking voters getting information about things like bond issuances, Board of Education positions, initiatives and the like?

Find some to ask, and ask them.

Or mind your own business.

So I should find someone that doesn't speak English and ask them in English where they get their information on how to vote on a bond?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised to see the the ballot duplicates all the questions and instructions in spanish. What's the point? You have to be a U.S. citizen to vote, which means you must know the language.

Also - there are scores of languages spoken by citizens in this area. Why spanish?

IMHO, that ballot would be simpler for all if if was just in english.

Many, many US citizens cannot speak English, especially many elderly. Spanish is the de facto 2nd official language in this country, and has been for decades. The US could easily declare itself bilingual, you could easily live here your entire life never needing to speak a word of English. Generally, yes, you need to be a citizen to vote, however, some counties allow local county election votes from non-citizens - perhaps Green card holders? I'm not sure what the qualification is for those local votes, and I don't know which counties allow this in the country, but there are a few, last time I read about this.
FEDERAL elections and STATE elections are only for U.S. citizens, in every county in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised to see the the ballot duplicates all the questions and instructions in spanish. What's the point? You have to be a U.S. citizen to vote, which means you must know the language.

Also - there are scores of languages spoken by citizens in this area. Why spanish?

IMHO, that ballot would be simpler for all if if was just in english.

Many, many US citizens cannot speak English, especially many elderly. Spanish is the de facto 2nd official language in this country, and has been for decades. The US could easily declare itself bilingual, you could easily live here your entire life never needing to speak a word of English. Generally, yes, you need to be a citizen to vote, however, some counties allow local county election votes from non-citizens - perhaps Green card holders? I'm not sure what the qualification is for those local votes, and I don't know which counties allow this in the country, but there are a few, last time I read about this.
FEDERAL elections and STATE elections are only for U.S. citizens, in every county in the country.

Montgomery is not one of those counties. At least not yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People asked this 20 years ago, and its as perplexing today as then.

Almost all election content is in English, outside of a few targeted adds here and there. So either this is pure virtue signaling, or very low information voters are voting. Not sure which is worse.

You might be perplexed, but most people are not perplexed. Maybe you're one of those very low information voters you're worried about?

Maybe I am, but I'm willing to learn. Where are non-English speaking voters getting information about things like bond issuances, Board of Education positions, initiatives and the like?

I mean, you are fooling yourself if you think most English-speaking voters are well-educated on bonds and down-ballot races, but to answer your question, the Montgomery County Voters Guide is published in Spanish, as is the League of Women Voters guide, and Vote411 is available in Spanish, and provides personalized information depending on our address. https://www.vote411.org/es

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised to see the the ballot duplicates all the questions and instructions in spanish. What's the point? You have to be a U.S. citizen to vote, which means you must know the language.

Also - there are scores of languages spoken by citizens in this area. Why spanish?

IMHO, that ballot would be simpler for all if if was just in english.

This doesn’t make sense. Speaking English and citizenship are not hand-in-glove.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many citizens are not fluent enough in English to make a decision like voting. But yea they are citizens and yes they can vote

OP here - sorry, I've never encountered a single fellow US citizen who can't read english (apart from I guess illiterate people).

That says a lot about you.

[Anonymous]

I am confused as to how OP is confused.

My grandmother immigrated here from Italy as a young adult and was honestly never fully proficient in English. She was also able to organize her life in a way that didn't really require English. Her church was in Latin, her family all spoke Italian, she didn't work outside the home.

But she was a US citizen, and voted (the way her priest told her to).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP’s mind might be blown by the fact that ballots in Fairfax County are in English, Spanish, Korean, and Vietnamese.

Voting signs and ballots are printed in languages other than English to encourage unlawful voting by noncitizens.

The number of people who fall under the exceptions to the English-language requirement to naturalize (or were born U.S. citizens but never lived in an English-speaking culture long enough to learn the language), are exceedingly minuscule.

I’ve read some inflammatory bullshit in my time but this one is beyond the pale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused as to how OP is confused.

My grandmother immigrated here from Italy as a young adult and was honestly never fully proficient in English. She was also able to organize her life in a way that didn't really require English. Her church was in Latin, her family all spoke Italian, she didn't work outside the home.

But she was a US citizen, and voted (the way her priest told her to).

That last bit is exactly what's probably happening. Someone's telling them how to vote and they just do it. Explains why endorsements matter so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People asked this 20 years ago, and its as perplexing today as then.

Almost all election content is in English, outside of a few targeted adds here and there. So either this is pure virtue signaling, or very low information voters are voting. Not sure which is worse.

You might be perplexed, but most people are not perplexed. Maybe you're one of those very low information voters you're worried about?

Maybe I am, but I'm willing to learn. Where are non-English speaking voters getting information about things like bond issuances, Board of Education positions, initiatives and the like?

Find some to ask, and ask them.

Or mind your own business.

So I should find someone that doesn't speak English and ask them in English where they get their information on how to vote on a bond?

Minding your own business is always an option.