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This Lehigh Valley city will have its very first mayor of Latino descent, however by the very same stroke voters resoundingly turned down a vaguely worded tally question that would have ditched language in the city charter making English the city's official language. Democrat Matt Tuerk, the grandson of a Cuban immigrant, who speaks Spanish, won 8,098 votes 64% of those cast, informal tallies revealed.

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69%, according to Lehigh County's unofficial vote tally. With  This Is Cool , Allentown, where 54% of the population is Hispanic, now has a mayor, authorities chief and fire chief with Hispanic backgrounds. On the other hand, city citizens voted 6,695-3,624 to decline the ballot question, according to informal results. The outcomes, however, might have been more reliant on the language of the referendum than citizen sentiment.

The plain language, however, is not noted on the tally, however appeared on indications at ballot places. In addition, mail-in tallies did not include the plain-language explanation up until after Oct. 18, a week after a very first round was sent by mail out. City Board President Julio Guridy, who was a prime sponsor of the referendum, has actually stated he was uncertain how the concern happened worded so ambiguously.

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However Timothy Benyo, primary clerk of registration and elections in Lehigh County, formerly said Allentown sent his workplace a copy of the resolution, which particularly directs the county to put a referendum on the tally utilizing the exact words now on the tally. The resolution also points out the English only provision twice.

City of Allentown

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But under state law, the county board of elections is charged with framing the concern. Fans had anticipated the ballot question could go down to beat over the phrasing. However they likewise were hoping the city could end what they refer to as a tradition of bigotry that started in 1994 when then-council member Emma Tropiano, who passed away in 2001, initially proposed a resolution that would direct that city company be carried out in English.