Casting The First Vote
a naturalized citizen from Ghana tackles our voting process.
2008-02-04
By Meri Nana-Ama Danquah

As a recently naturalized citizen of the United States, one of my new
entitlements is the right to vote.  This Tuesday will be the first time I
will exercise that right in a presidential primary.  The ironic thing is
that I've been living in America for the past thirty-four years, since the
age six, when my family first immigrated from my native Ghana.  Even though
I entered the country legally, due to a series of mistakes, missed
change-of-status filings and other technicalities much too complicated to
explain in this forum, I spent most of my adult years as an undocumented
immigrant.

For me, one of the most frustrating aspects of being an illegal
immigrant was the fact that I had no voice, no say in helping to decide the
direction in which this country, the place I'd called home for the majority
of my life, was headed.  Voting, in my mind, was one of the most important
ways for residents to stake claim to their land. If not, why would so many
people-women and African Americans-have marched, protested and sacrificed
their lives for suffrage?  Many election days have found me driving by the
polling centers in my neighborhood, staring at the citizens entering and
exiting, wishing I were among them. 
     
So, this year, knowing that I would finally be able to take part in
that process, I decided to educate myself on our system of voting, namely
how it works and what it entails.  I didn't know much about either the
Democratic party or the Republican party so when I registered I checked the
box with "Decline to State" written beside it. I started reading up on all
the candidates, researching their voting records and finding out what their
stance was on issues that I felt were important.  I've gotta admit:  the
material was dense and utterly confusing. 

I began having conversations about the candidates with friends and
colleagues, only to discover that many of the people I spoke to were basing
their decisions on criteria that was, at best, simplistic and/or superficial
like personality, gender, race, hairstyle, and age.  Even more shocking in
my quest to become more knowledgeable about the voting process was the
realization that a surprisingly large number of citizens were as
ill-informed as I was.  For instance, I wanted to understand what it meant
for a candidate to win in a state's primary election.  Would that candidate
automatically get all the delegates from that state?  What becomes of that
state's delegates in the event of a tie between the candidates?  Does the
person with the most delegates win the party's nomination?  What is a
super-delegate?  It seemed as though the more questions I asked, the less
information I received.

It's a bit disconcerting to me that so many people find it difficult to
understand how their individual vote factors into the process of nominating
a candidate and then, beyond that, electing a president.  This is not to say
that I blame them.  As much reading and asking as I've done, I still don't
understand the whole concept of an electoral college.  It doesn't make any
sense to me, especially when you start throwing in terms like "popular
vote," and "faithless electors."  I especially find it difficult to wrap my
mind around the fact that it is possible for the majority of Americans to
vote for a candidate and for that candidate to not be elected as President.

Whereas I began my new citizenship feeling excited and empowered by my right
to vote, I'm moving into this primary election feeling deflated and,
frankly, a little disempowered by what I now view as a tremendous distance
between what takes place in the booth and what the ultimate decision as to
who will be our next President is based upon.  It could very well be that
I'm speaking out of sheer ignorance; but then again, that's my case in
point.  If, after everything I've gone through in my effort to be a
well-informed citizen and a thoughtful voter, I'm still basically ignorant,
then perhaps the system is not structured in such a way as to encourage or
include the participation of the average citizen.  In short, I'm beginning
to understand why a lot of people either don't vote or don't feel that their
vote matters.

For my part, I'm still committed to staking my claim to this country and
having a say in its future.  I'm still determined to cast my first vote on
Tuesday morning.  And with any luck, maybe it will count for something.

Meri Nana-Ama Danquah is a freelance writer living in Los Angeles.