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SALT LAKE CITY — The Hispanic population in Salt Lake County has grown large enough that the county will now be required under the Voting Rights Act to create ballots in both Spanish and English.
The county first rolled out voting information in Spanish during the last primary election, but now they are looking to hire a lot of bilingual poll workers to help out during the general election, according to Salt Lake County clerk Sherrie Swenson.
"It is a Federal law and the Department of Justice definitely oversees and monitors what we are doing," she said.
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Caroon weighed in Wednesday on the announcement.
"Printing voter information and ballots in Spanish reflects the letter and spirit of the law. It also has the distinction of being the right thing to do," he said.
The changes were also applauded by Archie Archuleta with Utah La Raza.
Salt Lake County voting information
Search tools to provide answers to voters' most commonly asked questions: Where is my polling location? Who are my elected officials? Am I registered to vote?"We need to tell our people to take advantage of this," he said. "It's a beautiful opportunity."
San Juan County is the only other county in Utah required to have bilingual voter information, where information must also be passed along in the Navajo language.
