Chicago voters can cast ballots in 12 different languages this election, an expansion that Illinois Republican Party Chairman Bob Grogan warns is making an already complicated election system harder to independently monitor.

Grogan told Digital the proliferation of versions in languages such as Tagalog, Gujarati and Urdu creates additional challenges for election judges and party observers tasked with ensuring voters receive accurate ballots. He also questioned how many voters need some of the translations, arguing that many immigrants who speak those languages also speak English.

«It’s a solution in search of a problem,» Grogan told Digital. «It’s big city virtue signaling.»

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Chicago voters can cast ballots in 12 different languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Tagalog, Polish, Gujarati, Urdu, Ukrainian, Arabic and Russian.

Section 203 of the U.S. Voting Rights Act requires the Chicago Board of Elections to make materials and ballots available in certain precincts for Spanish, Chinese and Hindi speakers, a spokesperson for the elections agency told Digital. The Board includes the other non-English languages to «maintain uniformity with the languages used by the Cook County Clerk’s office under a county ordinance, so that all voters throughout Cook County are afforded equal voting opportunities,» the spokesperson added.

But Grogan, a former DuPage County auditor for 12 years, said he has «a fair number of Gujarati friends … and everyone in their family speaks English.»

«Gujarati — it’s from India, and English is an official language in India,» Grogan added.

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Data provided to Digital by the Chicago Board of Elections shows that some of the less commonly used language options accounted for only a handful of ballots cast during the March primary. Just nine ballots were cast using the English-Gujarati option, while 15 used English-Urdu, 10 used English-Arabic and 25 each used English-Russian and English-Ukrainian, according to the Board’s figures.

Other translations were used more frequently, including 4,474 English-Polish ballots, 2,183 English-Chinese ballots, 664 English-Hindi ballots, 352 English-Korean ballots and 100 English-Tagalog ballots.

Grogan also questioned why language requirements can change substantially across county lines, noting that Chicago offers touchscreen ballots in 12 languages while nearby DuPage County offers fewer language options.

«You can have a Gujarati population in Peoria,» Grogan said. «You would think that there would be some more uniformity to all of that as well.»

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Beyond questioning the need for some of the translations, Grogan raised a broader concern about oversight, arguing that election judges and party observers cannot independently scrutinize ballots written in languages they do not understand.

However, the Chicago Board of Elections pushed back, telling Digital that it has in-house staff who help translate ballots and signs and assist multilingual media ahead of elections. It also said voters are allowed to bring «interpreter[s] to assist them in understanding and casting their ballot» under certain conditions.

When asked about multilingual judges, the Board noted that of the 7,218 election judges assigned for November’s general election as of Thursday, 810 are multilingual candidates. Those multilingual judges include speakers of Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Polish, Korean and Tagalog, according to the Board.

Pressed on whether he believes the additional languages create an election security vulnerability, Grogan said the risk depends in part on how widely the translated ballots are used.

Overall, the Board’s figures show 7,857 multilingual ballots were cast during the March primary, representing about 1.85% of the 424,564 ballots cast citywide.

«I think it certainly makes it harder to monitor,» Grogan said. «If there is one ballot cast in that language, that’s a very small vulnerability you have. If all of a sudden we have 10,000 in some very small, poorly understood language, then that increases the risk.»

Digital asked the Chicago Board of Elections how many languages are available for mail-in ballots but did not receive a response in time for publication.

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Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff never intended to be in Beirut in Lebanon, on Oct. 23, 1983, when suicide bombers drove explosive-laden trucks into Marine Corps barracks, killing 241 American service members. But as Resnicoff told Fox News Digital, his presence during that event and advocacy thereafter would bring solace and support for a multitude of American service members, leading to his strong belief that «a coincidence is just God acting anonymously.»

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Tasked to the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet, Resnicoff was part of a three-chaplain team supporting service members across 40 ships stationed in the Mediterranean. On Friday, Oct. 21, Resnicoff arrived in Beirut to perform a memorial service for a Jewish Marine who had been killed in the line of duty. Navy leadership wanted to send him back to the boat the following day, but as an observant Jew, he refused to travel on the Sabbath.

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From left to right, Protestant chaplain Danny Wheeler, Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff and Catholic chaplain George Pucciarelli attend the Oct. 21, 1983, memorial service for Jewish Marine Staff Sgt. Allen Soifert two days prior to the terrorist bombing. (Courtesy of Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff)

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Resnicoff woke early on the morning of Oct. 23 and was brushing his teeth at 6:22 a.m. when his building began to shake violently. As doors came off their hinges and windows exploded, Resnicoff and others took cover on the floor, believing their building had been hit by a rocket or mortars.

When the ruckus stopped, the men began to hear «these terrible, terrible screams» coming from the building 50 yards away from where Protestant minister Danny Wheeler lived with a host of Marines. 

American Marines search for survivors and bodies in the rubble, all that was left of their barracks headquarters in Beirut, after a terrorist suicide car bomb was driven into the building and detonated, killing 241 U.S. servicemen and wounding over 60. The American military was in Beirut as part of a multinational peacekeeping force. (Peter Charlesworth/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Whenever Resnicoff visited Beirut, he alternated staying with a Catholic chaplain, George Pucciarelli, and Wheeler. Based on his schedule, Resnicoff ought to have stayed at Wheeler’s residence on Friday, but chose instead to stay with Pucciarelli, who had something to discuss with the rabbi. «Who knows what it was we talked about,» Resnicoff reminisced. «But that probably saved my life.»

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As recognition dawned on those around him, Resnicoff watched Pucciarelli put his purple stole around his neck, «probably because he knew he was going to have to say many last rites.» Pucciarelli looked at Resnicoff and said, «Follow me.»

Outside, Resnicoff said that «the big, four-story building was gone with the smoke.» Buried under the rubble were 241 American service members, including 220 Marines, 18 Navy sailors and three Army soldiers. The Navy casualties included «a complete medical detachment,» leaving no one «trained medically to help those left alive.»

Resnicoff, Pucciarelli and other first responders began working their way through the debris looking for survivors. He said, Pucciarelli «went to one body on the ground, I went to another. We just cradled these wounded men and said, ‘Help is coming.’» Each attended to the men as best they could, ripping apart their clothes to wipe the blood, dirt and dust from their faces. When Resnicoff had torn apart his shirt, he used his Jewish head covering, called a kippah, which soon «got bloody and dirty and lost.»

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Lebanese volunteer rescue workers carry the body of an American Marine from the rubble of the American Marines Barracks that was attacked by a terrorist truck bomb on Oct. 23, 1983. (Peter Charlesworth/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Eventually, ambulances and helicopters arrived on scene, allowing Pucciarelli and Resnicoff to catch their breaths. Pucciarelli remarked that he had never seen Resnicoff without his head covered. «I told him what happened to my kippah, so he tore a piece of his camouflage uniform and put it on my head.»

Pucciarelli told Resnicoff that, «In this country where every religion is killing every other religion, I want everyone here to remember not only that you and I, the chaplains, were helping everyone regardless of whether they had a religion or what religion they had, but that you and I had different religions [and were] standing together.»

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Wheeler was the last living service member to be pulled from the wreckage five hours after the explosion. Resnicoff said that it took four days to dig out the hundreds of bodies buried in the rubble. «These tough Marines were crying, helping their fellow military personnel,» Resnicoff said.

Resnicoff pulled from an element of his own Jewish tradition as he ministered to the Marines mourning and laboring in the wreckage. «After the death, we have a week of family gathering around and telling stories about the person who died,» he explained. «The tradition is if you visit the family during that period, you don’t initiate the conversation, just show your concern and love through your presence, and if the mourners talk to you, then you have a conversation. So, when I would go from Marine to Marine, they were digging up the bodies of their comrades, I used that Jewish approach. I didn’t start the conversation, I just stood next to them to show them I was there, and then if they wanted to talk, I talked.»

Resnicoff said that the tradition hearkened on the words of Catholic friar St. Francis of Assisi, who taught his followers to «preach the gospel everywhere. Use words only if absolutely necessary.»

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The Legacy of the Camouflage Kippah

Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff, pictured in his camouflage kippah. (Courtesy of Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff)

Before the Beirut bombing, Resnicoff reported that gaining permission to wear the kippah «was always a struggle» for Jewish service members.

In the early 1980s, Resnicoff says that Congress was debating the Religious Apparel Amendment, which would have allowed Jews serving in the military to cover their heads. «For two years, this amendment had failed. And then, in the Congressional Record, they told the story of this priest making this head covering for me,» Resnicoff said. «The amendment passed. They understood that it was a matter of pride that we could work side by side from different religions. Then-Vice President George H. W. Bush asked Resnicoff to write a report on his experience. Former President Ronald Reagan would share that report with a group of 20,000 Baptists, «who evidently appreciated it,» Resnicoff recalled.

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In this Oct. 23, 1983 file photo, the aftermath of the bombing of the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP)

In chaplain school, Resnicoff said that chaplains were trained to attend to severely wounded personnel from different religious backgrounds than their own. «But it turned out none of the people I comforted in Beirut asked me a religious question. It was just ‘if I die, tell my mother I love her.’ Most of those Marines were too young to have their own children.» He says that «I was reminded that the role of the chaplain is so much broader and bigger than just being a religious representative.»

«I always used to believe that the military was ahead of the civilian world when it came to understanding and working together. And when you’re in a foxhole or a bunker, you don’t really care if the guy next to you is a Democrat or Republican or independent, you don’t really care what their religion is. You just care that they’re going to protect you like you’re going to protect them and we’re all in this together.»

Resnicoff says that the Beirut bombing showed him that «if the world had more interfaith foxholes, we would have less need for foxholes and more room for faith.»

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Beth Bailey writes on the United Nations, worldwide antisemitism, and regions in conflict for Fox News.

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Una intensa tormenta acompañada de granizo y descargas eléctricas golpeó a Quito la tarde del jueves 22 de octubre y dejó al menos 41 eventos de emergencia en distintos sectores de la capital ecuatoriana. Las precipitaciones provocaron inundaciones en calles y viviendas, arrastraron vehículos estacionados, ocasionaron daños estructurales y obligaron a suspender temporalmente las operaciones del Metro, uno de los principales sistemas de transporte público de la ciudad.

Según el balance difundido este viernes por el Comité de Operaciones de Emergencia (COE) Metropolitano, las autoridades contabilizaron 32 inundaciones, cinco árboles caídos, dos colapsos estructurales, un movimiento en masa y un hundimiento. Del total de incidentes registrados, 23 habían sido atendidos y otros 18 permanecían bajo seguimiento de los organismos municipales.

La emergencia comenzó alrededor de las 14:40, cuando una fuerte precipitación sorprendió a los habitantes del centro y norte de Quito. En cuestión de minutos, varias calles quedaron cubiertas de agua y granizo, mientras las corrientes alcanzaron suficiente intensidad para desplazar automóviles y dificultar el tránsito de peatones.

Uno de los episodios más graves ocurrió en el sector de Las Casas, donde cuatro vehículos estacionados fueron arrastrados por la fuerza del agua en la calle Versalles. Las imágenes difundidas durante la emergencia mostraron automóviles desplazándose por vías convertidas en corrientes, mientras los vecinos intentaban proteger sus viviendas del ingreso de agua y lodo.

La administración zonal La Mariscal concentró 22 eventos, seguida de Eugenio Espejo, con 13. En Tumbaco se registraron cuatro incidentes, mientras Calderón y Manuela Sáenz reportaron uno cada una. Esta distribución evidenció que las mayores afectaciones se concentraron en sectores urbanos densamente poblados del centro y norte de la ciudad.

En La Gasca y Pambachupa se reportó el colapso de dos muros, mientras que en la avenida Cristóbal Colón, especialmente en su intersección con Diego de Almagro, la acumulación de agua complicó la circulación. También se registraron anegamientos en la avenida 10 de Agosto y acumulaciones de granizo en la avenida Mariscal Sucre.

El temporal también afectó al Metro de Quito. La estación La Pradera registró ingreso de agua, lo que obligó a modificar temporalmente el servicio y dividir las operaciones en dos tramos: Quitumbe–Universidad Central y La Carolina–El Labrador. La Secretaría Nacional de Gestión de Riesgos también identificó afectaciones en la estación Universidad Central.

Las autoridades municipales informaron que una pareja de adultos mayores resultó afectada por el ingreso de agua a su vivienda en Belisario Quevedo y recibió asistencia humanitaria. En Cumbayá, los equipos de respuesta extrajeron aproximadamente 14 metros cúbicos de agua de un establecimiento educativo, sin necesidad de evacuar a sus estudiantes.

La magnitud de las precipitaciones quedó reflejada en los registros meteorológicos. Según el Municipio, la estación de Bellavista registró una lluvia que superó en un 39% el anterior máximo documentado el 21 de abril de 2023, una referencia que permite dimensionar la intensidad del episodio en esa zona de Quito.

El Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología había advertido sobre la posibilidad de lluvias intensas y tormentas eléctricas en Pichincha. Durante octubre, la capital ya había experimentado varios episodios de precipitaciones extraordinarias, asociados con condiciones de humedad atmosférica, calentamiento diurno y elevada radiación solar.

Las inundaciones volvieron a poner bajo atención la capacidad del sistema de drenaje urbano para responder a lluvias de elevada intensidad, particularmente en sectores donde el agua se acumula sobre vías principales y accesos al transporte público. Mientras continuaban las labores de evaluación, las autoridades mantenían el seguimiento de los incidentes pendientes y la revisión de los daños ocasionados por el temporal.

corresponsal:Desde Quito