Bilingual balloting in Lorain watched

Associated Press

LORAIN, Ohio

U.S. Justice Department election observers monitored the election in a Northeast Ohio county that made an agreement with the government to offer ballots in Spanish.

Lorain County, west of Cleveland, has a growing Puerto Rican population.

The Department of Justice says the monitors were assigned under the terms of a court order on bilingual voting access.

Lorain County agreed to provide bilingual ballots countywide and bilingual poll workers on a targeted precinct basis.

Bilingual ballots also are available in Cuyahoga County, which includes the state’s second largest city of Cleveland.

Cleveland reached a similar agreement with the Justice Department last year.