Reader’s Write: Low voter turnout puzzling

The Island Now

As one who was born in Iran and enormously proud to be sworn in as a naturalized citizen of the United States, I am pained and puzzled to learn from a recent U.S. Census Bureau report that voting rates among young Americans fell to 38.0 percent in 2012 from 44.3 percent in 2008.

While the Obama presidential campaigns caused an increase in young voter turnout in two consecutive elections (2008 and 2004), it now becomes clear this increased participation was more an anomaly than a trend. 

This suggests there remains a troubling indifference to the gift of democracy among our next generation of voters upon whom so much depends.

 In contrast, the Census Bureau reports that Americans 65 and older have voted at higher rates than all other age groups since the 1996 election. The report also found that women tend to vote at higher rates than men across most age groups.

 For those of us who were born elsewhere and willingly left their places of birth to come to a nation of liberty and opportunity, it is perplexing that the most important gift of all, democracy, remains unopened and unused by so many of our citizens. 

In Afghanistan, where the very act of voting is a death defying experience, young men and women defied threats of murder to cast their presidential ballots. In eastern Ukraine, where a single peaceful protestor standing against the Russian incursion was found tortured and executed, reminds us of the courage of those who believe in free speech.

 Many naturalized American citizens are refugees from these kinds of regimes, and having endured the arduous challenge of becoming American citizens, they are enthusiastic about the opportunity to cast their votes in open and free elections. That enthusiasm is often reflected in their careers, their community participation and their patriotism. They have much to compare when reflecting back on where they were and where they are now as citizens of a great country that is such a powerful force for good around the world.

 There is, in fact, nothing sudden about the energy naturalized immigrants bring to these shores. Immigrants have arrived for centuries with the express purpose of embracing the principles of freedom and the opportunity to succeed or fail based on your own ambition, intelligence and work ethic.  From trappers and steel makers to aircraft pioneers and flash drive engineers, America and opportunity have long been synonymous.

 The latest census data suggests that America needs to present to its next generation of voters an appreciation already held by those who know full well the face of theocracies and despotism. 

Perhaps this coming Memorial Day weekend naturalized citizens have a responsibility to tell of their personal experiences to those native born Americans who are indifferent to the gift of freedom secured at a great price by those who fought to preserve, protect and defend a nation we hold so dear, regardless of where we born.

David Harounian

Deputy Mayor of the Village of Kings Point

Share this Article