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

Kerryt wn

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