NEW YORK — As the country gears up for the presidential election on November 3, New Yorkers have been casting their ballots in droves at the 88 early voting sites across the five boroughs. But despite long lines that sometimes wrapped around several blocks, voters have been determined to show up in person to ensure their voice would be heard through the ballot box.
For many of those people, the wait was a small price to pay to cast their first-ever presidential vote. From naturalized citizens to recently-turned 18-year-olds, these voters are not taking their newly earned right for granted. But the ranks of new voters registered this year in the city is down significantly compared to the last presidential election year. By September 20, 2016, nearly 351,000 new voters had registered in New York City. This year, less than 235,000 new voters had registered, a 33% decline that the Campaign Finance Board attributes to the challenges of registering people in person during the pandemic. Still, for many of those who are voting, it is a momentous opportunity.
A 20-Year Journey to the Ballot Box
Swati Chaudhary doesn’t mince words when she talks about her immigration journey.
“I describe it as a series of small humiliations across 20 years,” Chaudhary said.
She’s originally from Bihar, India, right near the border of Nepal, and grew up in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, until she moved to the U.S. to attend Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
While she admits that her story isn’t as arduous as others, she also knows she hasn’t had an easy ride of it either. From her dealings with the system itself to hearing xenophobic comments from people around her, she says she’s often felt like an unwanted outsider.
“When you go to one of these [immigration] centers, or even to American embassies, you're basically treated like cattle,” she said. “People are herding you and being rude to you, and there's just no recourse. Even in job employment, you go through an entire interview process and then you're told, ‘Oh, we don't sponsor visas.’”
These frustrations made a big impact on how she viewed her role in this country.
“In every aspect of your life, you want to be one of everybody, because you're paying taxes, you're part of the community. And then over and over again, you're reminded that you're not.”
It wasn’t until she got her green card that she started to feel empowered and could start making significant changes in her life. For the first time, she felt comfortable getting involved with activism. She attended her first rally in 2017 when she participated in the Women’s March in D.C.
Now that she’s a citizen, she feels it’s her responsibility to be part of the democratic system. She volunteers and does phone banking. She says she even makes sure to consume a balanced media diet, watching Fox News and reading The Federalist, even though she said she often feels directly attacked by the rhetoric around immigration from those organizations.
She showed up to vote with her husband on the first day of early voting at the Barclays Center.
“We stood in line for three hours,” she said about her first presidential vote. “I wanted the in-person experience. And I felt so powerful casting that vote. I felt like, like I was part of this collective that was charting its own path.”
After they cast their votes, they commemorated the occasion with some photos and then treated themselves to some Shake Shack and a nap.
Finding Her Voice and Becoming More Politically Engaged in the Process
If you looked at Sierra Fraser’s resume, you’d probably assume that she’s the type of person used to speaking her mind. In high school, she was president of the Black Alliance Club, a member of her school’s Equity Team and Gender Sexuality Alliance.
But it wasn’t until last year, after attending her first rally for school integration in New York, that she felt she started to really come out of her shell.
“That was one of the first protests that I had been to, and it was really powerful,” she said.
She later joined the group that organized the protest, Teens Take Charge, a student-led movement for educational equity in New York City. That’s what she says has led to her newfound sense of agency.
“[It was] learning about the systems in place and how they affect not only Black lives on the street, but also in schools, and how it affects their education,” she said. “And then from there, I just started looking into more issues that affect my community.”
This increased awareness and engagement with the political process has meant following this presidential election a lot more closely than in the past. And after listening to the presidential debates, she said she felt a bit worried with the choice of candidates.
“Trump had made the comment about Proud Boys, ‘standby and stand back,’” the freshman at Smith College said. “And then I’ve been thinking about how Biden isn't also the best,” she said, referring to his 1994 crime bill.
Despite what she feels aren’t the brightest options for president, she’s determined to use her vote because “the country needs someone that's going to focus on things that we need to be focusing on, especially police brutality, and things that have really sparked during COVID.”
She plans on voting on November 3 with her mother, who she calls her best friend. It’s a fitting way to cast her first vote, since her mother’s been right by her side throughout her political journey.
“She loves it,” Fraser said. “She's very supportive of me getting out there because I have always been this really shy and quiet person that rarely spoke up.”
Fraser has been making sure to take the things she’s learned in her own activism back to her mother, who is also getting more politically engaged in the process.
Casting her ballot next Tuesday is a big deal for Fraser.
“I'm really excited,” she said. “ I just feel so grown and like an adult. I've been waiting a long time to finally say, 'I voted.'”
A Family Affair
Fawziyah Khan, 18, doesn’t agree with everything that Joe Biden stands for, but that’s not going to change the fact that she is going to vote for him.
“Biden is the lesser of two evils,” Khan said. “It's kind of upsetting that it's come to this, to be honest — that we had to have a mediocre candidate on the Democratic side. But this is what the younger generation is stuck with, so we just have to move forward from here.”
She would’ve liked to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary, but her 18th birthday was seven days too late. Still, she didn’t want to take the chance of throwing away her vote. She showed up on the day of the primary but was turned away.
Khan, a freshman studying economics at New York University, comes from a big family who are all pretty aligned politically. It means there’s not usually any heated debates between the seven of them living together in Queens, but it does make for entertaining company when they watch big events like the presidential debates.
“We just kind of laughed at the whole thing. Not because of what was being said, but just the whole presentation of both candidates,” she said.
It’s only fitting that she plans on casting her first ballot with her father and older sister on the day of the election.
She has class on November 3, but she’s definitely going to make time to go to the polls in person. She also plans on taking a photo with her “I Voted” sticker and sharing it on social media with an important message.
“I want to encourage my friends,” she said. “Everyone — voting is very cool.”
The Moment He’s Been Waiting For
When Imran Khan looks back at his upbringing, he describes it as pretty typical. The 38-year-old was born in India, grew up in Kuwait and came to the U.S. about 20 years ago to go to college.
“It was a journey that was very classic for me and my peer group,” he said. “I was essentially an expat kid growing up in the Middle East, and I followed my fellow high school peers, who applied to come to the U.S. on a student visa, which is what I did.”
He attended SUNY Buffalo, but when he graduated, he wasn’t able to get a work visa, so he had to leave the country.
“That began this incredible journey of me moving to India, where I hadn’t lived since I was five years old,” said Khan.
It turned out to be a beneficial move for the marketing analytics professional.
“At the time, I was like, I want to work at Microsoft or Google,” he said. “And here in the U.S., they'd be like, ‘Oh, you don't have the right work permit or the credentials. We won't interview you.’ But I go to India, and I go to the Google office there, and they're like, ‘Oh, yeah, sure, we'd love to take you in.’”
He moved back to the U.S. in 2014 and became eligible to naturalize in 2016. But he missed the cutoff for the 2016 election. And after November 8, he was determined to make sure he could vote in the next presidential election.
“Of course, like anybody else who woke up on November 9,” he explained, “you're like, ‘Oh s--t, like, let's do something.’”
Khan ended up really enjoying the process of becoming a citizen — particularly the educational part of it.
“I'm a bit of a history buff, so I'm always like, ‘Tell me the story behind the story,’” he said. “I found that to be very motivating, because it gives you a deep sense of what you are becoming a part of, and why, and what a privilege it is to be able to vote in this election.”
And as a resident of Crown Heights, where he was able to see the protests over police brutality taking place throughout the summer, he says he began to see just how meaningful his vote would be.
“I'm a part of this wave or this current that’s saying, ‘Look, we're trying to change things,’” he said. “I just feel like I'm part of something bigger than just my own individual vote.”
An 18th Birthday Just in Time for the Election
Esther Baek turned 18 just seven days before the November 3 election. The Bronx Science senior normally isn’t a big fan of her October birthday but feels differently this year.
“I usually don't like my birthday being so late, but I'm just thankful that it's in time for the election,” she said.
She’s currently taking a U.S. government course, so she’s feeling the magnitude of her newfound responsibility.
“I'm kind of nervous because I feel like I might mess up one way or another,” she said about casting her vote. “I'm just hoping that my vote will aid in some way.”
The issues prominent in Baek’s mind in this election are racism, sexism, and climate change. But she wasn’t always this engaged.
“It's definitely increased exponentially because of this pandemic,” she said. “This pandemic has really shone a light on how terrible our president has been doing these past four years. And it's very disappointing how, as a leader of one of the most progressive countries in the world, he takes no responsibility for the trauma that our nation has gone through over the past year. It doesn't set a hopeful example of how us as Gen Z are supposed to grow.”
Baek plans on voting on Saturday because it’s the only day she has completely free in her schedule. After hearing her teacher’s story about waiting six hours to vote, she wants to make sure she can devote enough time to the activity.
She plans on going to the polls with her older brother, the main person she discusses politics with. She says the language barrier with her parents, who are from Korea, makes these types of discussions a bit harder.
“There's a certain jargon to it,” she said. “The main points are understood, but to really have an in-depth conversation is kind of difficult.
Despite her nerves, she plans on using her moment at the ballot box to reach her peers.
“After I get my first sticker, I'll be able to encourage others to not pass up an important event.”
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