<As Larry points out, I don't recall ballots having to be printed in German, Gaelic, Italian, Polish, and Hebrew.

Whether they had to be or not, sometimes they were printed in German, going back over 200 years.

Gaelic has been essentially exterminated by the English, so even the Irish immigrants didn't speak it much.

Italians and Poles had their own newspapers, in which the ballots were printed and explained. The Chinese are an ongoing example of this kind of journalistic initiative.

Your ward captain was a boy from the neighborhood, as were those who passed out the ballots. They translated.

Hebrew wasn't a national language for the Jews until the re-establishment of Israel as a nation; it was a liturgical one. Printing ballots in Latin would have made as much sense. However, Yiddish is another issue. See also: German, above.

The big difference with Spanish-speakers is that ballots are being mandated by law to be printed in their language. Before, it was common practice for the local community leaders of various ethnic groups to get the word out and to make translations available. I suspect that a similar tactic was employed by Spanish-speaking communities until the Hispanic population became a significantly large voting block. Now they have things printed in their language using government money because they can.

Just because it wasn't mandated doesn't mean it wasn't past practice.

Just because it's difficult to learn English for some people doesn't mean they don't try.

Just because someone doesn't speeka di Anglish doesn't mean they aren't trying to be a part of the nation.

Just because a citizen hasn't mastered English doesn't mean he or she should be deprived of casting an intelligent ballot because the vaguaries of the phrases are elusive.

There are still elderly Italian ladies in my home town who don't speak English very well. Their sons served in Korea and Vietnam. Don't you dare tell them they aren't American enough.

Regards--
Mary Anne