Abida Anwar of Frisco was sworn in as a U.S. citizen on her 49th birthday in August. She voted in her first U.S. election during early voting recently.
Anwar said she hoped whoever is elected president will take the time to listen to different viewpoints and people of different backgrounds as well as try to find some common ground.
McKinney residents Zaid Ally and Arshia Ali are from Montreal, Canada, they were born to immigrant parents. Arshia’s parents immigrated to Canada from Pakistan, and Zaid’s parents are from Guyana, which sits on South America’s northern coast.
The couple moved to the U.S. 16 years ago and have two kids. Arshia Ali said becoming U.S. citizens provided stability, ensuring that they wouldn’t have problems if a future administration changed immigration laws.
“I don’t think 20, 30 years ago you would even fathom not letting immigrants in or feel empowered to kick people out,” Zaid Ally said. “You can’t voice your opinion as an immigrant as strongly as you can as a citizen. Just the simple right to vote says it all. And we felt that this upcoming election is an important one.”
Like other voter newbies, going to the polling center for the first time, during early voting this year, felt a bit daunting.
“To be honest, I didn’t know what to do,” Arshia Ali said. “I was like, I’m just going to follow the line. I was standing in the wrong place … I think you could tell we didn’t know what we were doing.”
The process of voting was also different than when she last voted, in Canada. There, she voted on a paper ballot. Here, it was a touchscreen.
“We were told after that we should have said that we were first time voters,” Zaid Ally said. “So that . . . they could clap or whatever.”
Got a tip? Email Stella M. Chávez at [email protected]. You can follow Stella on Twitter @stellamchavez.
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Publish date : 2024-11-04 23:03:00
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