Commentary: We should ensure every eligible voter in our community — including naturalized citizens — feels informed and empowered to vote.
Commentaries at the San Antonio Report provide space for our community to share perspectives and offer solutions to pressing local issues. The views expressed in this commentary belong to the author alone.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all individuals born or naturalized in the U.S., including formerly enslaved people. This landmark amendment remains a cornerstone of American democracy, ensuring that all citizens — regardless of how they attained citizenship — have equal rights, including the right to vote., 23.8 million Americans are naturalized citizens eligible to vote, making up approximately 10% of the U.S. electorate. In Texas, 2.2 million foreign-born citizens are eligible voters, placing the state among the top four — along with California, Florida, and New York — where 55% of the nation’s naturalized citizen voters reside. Local elections have a direct impact on daily life, influencing policies on public health, safety, economic development and affordable housing, yet voter participation in these elections remains low. In the May 2023 local election, only, leaving 892,466 eligible voters who did not participate. The next local election on May 3, with early voting from April 22 to April 29, presents an opportunity to change this trend. Culturingua supports immigrant individuals and families with legal status in San Antonio by fostering financial empowerment and civic engagement while honoring their cultural and linguistic heritage. This spring, Culturingua is focusing on increasing voter participation among U.S. citizens, particularly naturalized citizens, by hosting a series ofAdditionally, in partnership with the League of Women Voters of San Antonio, for the first time ever, Culturingua has translated the These efforts ensure that San Antonio’s Arab and Afghan naturalized citizens have access to reliable election information and can compare candidate positions to make informed decisions at the polls. Now is the time to embrace our immigrant communities and support all citizens —naturalized, birthright, derived, and acquired — in exercising their constitutional right to vote. With early voting beginning on April 22, let’s ensure every eligible voter in our community feels informed, empowered and ready to participate in shaping our shared future.Masjid Beit El-Maqdes, 7627 Culebra Rd.Andrea DruschFrom helping parents with grief to navigating health services, just part of the job for Any Baby Can San Antonio’s CEOWe have a small favor to ask. Our work is powered by readers like you. You're an essential part of keeping San Antonians informed and empowered, and we need your help to make an even bigger impact in our community.Nadia Mavrakis is a second-generation Libyan-American from Texas who is the co-leader of Culturingua, a community development and civic engagement nonprofit serving San Antonio's great Medical Center community,...Nader Mehdawi is a first-generation Libyan-American and professional engineer specializing in geotechnical engineering. He is the co-leader of Culturingua, a community development and civic engagement...
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