What you will see and not see in Camden ballots
Election day is here. Spanish ballots will be available throughout Camden County polls. But Camden City residents will not get to vote on a return to nonpartisan elections.
As I wrote in today's Inquirer, the push over the summer to get a nonpartisan election referendum question on today's ballot did not work out.
The city says activists turned the petition in too late. Activists say the city stalled in approving the petition.
The only two questions city residents will see on their ballots today are state questions, one of which asks whether Supreme Court and Superior Court judges should contributions be taken from their salaries to help pay to their employee benefits. The other question is on whether the state should issue bonds to help build higher education facilities.
Some changes that should be noticeable in all Camden County polls are the bilingual ballots and election material. In January, I reported on the new change due to the increase in Hispanics in the county who list Spanish as their primary language.
Of 364,720 voting-age citizens in Camden County, 12,080 are now limited-English proficient, up from 9,145 in 2000.
The introduction of bilingual ballots in counties throughout the country has often led to a higher amount of Latinos casting their vote. We'll have to wait and see if the change in Camden County has the same effect.