M
y father jumped out of his seat
the moment I entered the living
room. With a glowing smile, he
proudly announced that he had finished register-
ing to vote for the upcoming presidential election.
Each day that followed, whenever I trekked to
the mailbox and dropped our mail on the table, he
would shuffle through the array of letters, hoping
to find his absentee ballot.
My father became a United States citizen
approximately 25 years ago. He first landed in
Canada after moving from Vietnam, and then re-
located to Michigan after meeting my mom at a
friend’s wedding. Despite this, he had never fully
engaged in U.S. politics, and instead focused more
on his profession and building a life for his family.
He usually tuned in to NBC Nightly News after
dinner to stay up-to-date with current events, but
his engagement ended with the closing segment.
I always secretly hoped he’d grow more inter-
ested in current events, but I understood he was
extremely stressed from the pressures of work.
After moving back home from college in
March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I noticed
a shift in the political atmosphere in my home.
Over the two and a half years I had been away, my
father had developed his own voice. I watched
as he tried to converse with David Muir through
the monitor, exclaiming “what do you mean?” or
“how could this happen?” Instead of passively
listening like he did in the past, he was fervently
engaged. I was filled with pride as I watched my
father sit on the edge of his seat, waiting to hear
what the news anchor would say next.
While moving back home and seeing this
change was exciting, that time period was also
marked by anxiety. The pandemic is no joke for
my family. My father has a preexisting condition,
and when I moved back home, we couldn’t fath-
om engaging in behavior that would put him at
risk. We wore masks like it was our armor from
the deadly virus and scrubbed doorhandles clean
with Clorox wipes. After every trip to the grocery
store, my mother and I would come home with
mountains of food to limit the number of times
we went out. My father was absolutely ecstatic
when Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Ben-
son assured Michigan residents could vote by
mail. As Benson said, he thankfully didn’t have to
worry about choosing between his health and his
right to vote.
Our ballots coincidentally arrived on the same
day. My father’s face lit up with excitement as
he took his ballot to his home office with a pen
in hand. He was determined to exercise his right
as a newly informed, engaged U.S. citizen. Fifteen
minutes later, he emerged victorious with a com-
pleted ballot, sealing it up and placing it back in
the mailbox to be shipped off the next day.
It was official. My father — an immigrant with
a preexisting condition — voted for the first time
ever.
2
016 hit a record breaking 200 mil-
lion total registered voters, yet only
61.4% voted. According to the Pew Re-
search Center, 15% of registered nonvoters iden-
tified a “lack of interest or a feeling that their vote
wouldn’t make a difference” as the reason for not
voting. Surely one vote can’t make a difference —
at least that’s what my father used to think.
And yet, a single vote can.
NPR details close calls in election history,
including an incident in 2017 in Virginia. In an
election for a seat in the House of Delegates, a
tie was broken by placing the candidate’s names
in a canister and picking one out. A more well-
known example is the 2000 elections when Al
Gore lost the electoral college to George W
. Bush
due to a narrow 0.009 margin in Florida.
It might not seem like your vote matters, but
that’s what hundreds of other people are think-
ing, too. That’s what my father thought at first.
Imagine the power if all these voices spoke to-
gether instead of staying silent. Our democracy
only works if everyone plays their part. We can’t
assume someone else will fight our battles, and
if there is a cause that you believe in, you need to
vote to help uplift the voices of those who can’t.
We can only create progress if we continue to
fight for what we believe in.
In terms of elections, every vote is key when
deciding each state’s electoral college votes.
Out of 50 states, 48 utilize the winner-takes-all
system. The system itself is highly controversial,
with people arguing it is anti-democratic and it
waters down the value of a single vote. However,
these controversies demonstrate that’s all the
more reason why your vote matters. We need to
continue fighting and not use these controversies
as an excuse. Hillary Clinton lost the electoral
college in 2016 despite winning the popular vote,
costing her the presidency as a direct result of
this phenomena. Regardless of which side you
fall on the political spectrum, the close nature of
Clinton-Trump and Gore-Bush elections demon-
strate the power of the electoral college.
Even more important are battleground states,
also known as swing states. Battleground states
teeter between red and blue party affiliations
during election seasons, and are usually watched
closely by news organizations trying to map elec-
tion results. Politico has identified Georgia, Ari-
zona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, North Caro-
lina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as swing states
for the upcoming election. These states were
also identified as swing states in the 2016 election.
Since we live in Michigan, my father and I both
know that our vote will be critical in determining
what color Michigan will appear on the map, and
in turn, decide who will receive Michigan’s elec-
toral college votes.
This year, the U.S. has already beaten 2016’s
record of early voting by 140%. While I agree the
numbers are shocking, I’m also not surprised.
Every time I open up social media, my feed
is flooded with voting initiatives. My friends post
on Instagram and Snapchat flaunting their vot-
ing stickers. It seems to me like this election cycle
is generating a powerful push to increase voter
turnout, a push greater than ever before.
There’s no denying that 2020 has been jam-
packed with political discourse. The world was
pushed into a new reality as COVID-19 wreaked
havoc, disrupting our daily lives. Following the
death of George Floyd, national news organiza-
tions broadcasted protestors flooding streets
across the country as brave voices stood strong
for the Black Lives Matter movement. Our coun-
try lost Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Gins-
burg, a women’s rights pioneer and icon, creating
a vacant seat on the Supreme Court. The legiti-
macy of absentee voting itself has been battled by
politicians.
There is so much at stake, now more than ever.
That’s why my father is voting — he knows his
vote can make a difference. But it’s important to
note that he can make a difference in any election,
not just this one.
This incredible push for exercising our voting
rights shouldn’t end at the 2020 election. Every
new administration, and all of the changes in
positions beside the presidency that each cycle
brings, creates lasting effects on our lives. We live
in a continuously changing world, and different
economic and social issues will constantly be in
flux. There will always be something for us to
voice our opinions on, and voting for a candidate
you believe in can be a tangible method to initiate
change.
We need to recognize that voting is an in-
credible privilege that was heavily fought for in
the U.S. and around the world. We are fortunate
to have a say in our government and we must
keep exercising our rights rather than rendering
them obsolete.
With this upcoming election, I’ve watched my
father transform before my eyes. I’ve never seen
him this passionate about politics, or this excited
to vote. He left his home country in search for a
better life — a life with more freedom and op-
portunities. Now, 25 years later, he gets to play a
direct part in our democracy.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
10 — Wednesday, October 28, 2020
statement
A lesson about voting from my father:
an immigrant and American
BY FRANCESCA DUONG, STATEMENT CONTRIBUTOR
ILLUSTRATION BY EILEEN KELLY
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