If you’ve ever voted before, you may have wondered if it really counted for anything. Whether your guy wins or loses, could your one, solitary vote really make that much of a difference? While there is enough evidence to demonstrate that in certain cases – most notably in smaller, local elections – a small margin of votes can swing an election in one direction or another, we often doubt the relevance of our individual ballot. However, the best way to make sure that your vote really counts, is by increasing the numbers of like-minded people join you at the ballot box.
What does this look like? Registering others to vote, educating yourself and others about the candidates, researching the issues you care about, and most importantly, getting everyone out to vote on Election Day! Being civic minded and engaged goes beyond voting every two to four years, and we’ll explore other ways to get involved in future blog pieces.
Though the Eritrean diaspora in the United States may not be as large as other immigrant groups, we tend to be concentrated in certain metropolitan areas— Washington, DC, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Minnesota, and Atlanta. What happens when Eritrean-Americans begin to consciously flex their right to vote in these urban areas? Elected officials begin to take notice, and our opinions will be solicited (this already happens with the Ethiopian community in Washington DC). Local officials, such as mayors and city councilman, make decisions that are just as important to our daily lives as those made by the federal government.
Eritreans in the diaspora have been heavily involved in political organizing since we first began arriving to the U.S. in the 1970s. However, that political engagement has almost exclusively focused on the United States’ policy towards Eritrea. And while that approach made sense during the 80s and 90s, when we were still fighting for our independence, it’s time to expand that focus. An entire generation of Eritrean-Americans have been born and raised exclusively in the United States, many of whom have never even visited Eritrea. In order to continue to have a strong base of support for Eritrea in the future, we need to ensure that our local communities grow and thrive politically right here in our adopted home.
The Eritrean diaspora in the United States is not a monolith. Our community is ethnically, religiously, and politically diverse. Yet there are domestic political issues, including immigration reform, education, income equality, and civil rights/social justice, that are critically important to ALL Eritreans in this country. In the next few weeks, EDN will be bringing you original blog pieces, as well as sharing news articles, that illustrate the importance of our active civic engagement in the democratic process in the United States.
Remember, the last day to register is October 14th in Maryland and Virginia. The deadline to register online in the District of Columbia is October 6th. Same day registration is available at your local polling place on Election Day!