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Yolanda Balicki

Yolanda Garcia-Balicki is an immigration attorney with Helmer, Conley & Kasselman, P.A. in Bridgeton and Vineland and the current president of the Cumberland County Bar Association. She spent 33 years at the New Jersey State Parole Board, rising to Deputy Executive Director by gubernatorial appointment, where she oversaw complex hearings, wrote policy, and served as Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Officer. Fluent in Spanish and deeply rooted in Vineland, she has long combined professional leadership with volunteer service in local schools and community organizations, including advocacy for the performing arts and serving on the Rowan College of South Jersey Board of Trustees and Hispanic Advisory Board.

Now running for County Commissioner on a joint Democratic ticket with John Capizola Jr., Garcia-Balicki emphasizes restoring “successful county government” while drawing on her legal background and civic involvement. Her campaign materials highlight her decades of public service and community ties but, as of this writing, provide little to no specifics on how she would address Cumberland County’s pressing issues. With only a joint Facebook page offering general statements, voters currently have limited opportunities to hear her detailed platform or attend clearly advertised events.

Her résumé and reputation suggest deep commitment to fairness and equality, but the campaign’s limited digital substance and seeming unwillingness to present and unpack a platform through outreach leaves voters piecing together clues from past roles rather than evaluating a clear, current agenda.

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Rating Explanation

Yolanda Balicki

Garcia-Balicki’s professional record demonstrates decades of public service and community advocacy, and in person she comes across as friendly and approachable. Yet when it comes to campaign substance, she has been markedly hesitant. Despite multiple outreach attempts, there is still no comprehensive campaign website, no regularly advertised public events, and no updated statements outlining her goals for the Board of Commissioners in 2025. The only messaging available comes through a shared Facebook page with Capizola that contains broad themes but little to no actionable details.

This is not totally meant as a personal critique; Cumberland County still lacks a reliable infrastructure for helping residents access candidate information. But given Garcia-Balicki’s stature and local presence, the absence of easily accessible, substantive campaign material stands out. Voters who would otherwise be receptive to her background and values are left without a clear understanding of how she would lead on county-specific issues.

The door remains open for Garcia-Balicki to improve this rating: completing a questionnaire, participating in an interview, publishing a campaign site or platform summary, or otherwise making her positions available would give voters the clarity they deserve. Until then, her transparency and accessibility rating remains below average—not because of a lack of experience, but because the campaign’s public-facing information still stops short of what is generally expected in the politically-focused and technology driven world of 2025.

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Suggested Use of Candidate Pages & Project Disclaimer

Note: There are a few ways to use this page. It mixes objective source material with light analysis and first-hand reporting so voters can choose their depth.

How to get the most out of this candidate page
  1. Start with the Quick Summary. Click the Quick Summary button underneath the websites section. It gives you the fast take: what we know from sources + brief analysis from a “data collector / local reporter” point of view.
  2. Scan the objective sources. If you want more data, jump into the source material we’ve collected:
    • Official campaign website (if available)
    • Social media pages and posts (if available)
    • Interviews (video/audio) and transcripts (if available)
  3. Check the agenda & positions. Look for the candidate’s stated agenda and issue stances. We try to group them plainly so you can compare across candidates quickly.
  4. Read the Transparency/Accessibility rating. For a deeper look at how transparent the candidate has been (web presence, interviews, follow-ups, meet n greets) and how communicative they've been in response to outreach, see the rating and its short explanation. This helps you understand what’s easy to find and who is easy to contact.
  5. Use the page as a multi-layered hub. If you 'just want the facts', stick to the source documents. If you want opinions about transparency, accessibility, and communication, check the transparency meter. If you want coverage somewhere in between, like interviews that range from introductory to moderately pressing, watch the interviews. Choose your own adventure.

Where we add context or opinion, it’s to help busy voters make sense of gaps in local information. Not everyone has time to be a volunteer politico.

Yolanda G. Balicki

Running for:
Cumberland County Commissioner
Incumbent
Challenger

Websites

This election is on November 5th, 2025

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Transparency/Accessibility Rating: Very Low



Events

As of September 11, 2025, InformTheVoteNJ searched the official Cumberland County Democrats website, the joint Capizola/Garcia-Balicki Facebook page, and other public listings (Mobilize, local news, etc.). No publicly advertised campaign events for either candidate were found.

This screenshot shows the “Events” page on the Cumberland County Democrats website at the time of review, which displayed no upcoming events:

Empty events page on Cumberland County Democrats site showing no upcoming events


Agenda

As of April 16th, the only info available regarding Balicki's current primary campaign is on the