Immigrants voting for first time: 'I have the right to have a voice'

People born here take voting for granted, but it is more precious to immigrants.   - - Donna Poisl

By Brooke Hauser, TODAY contributor

When Kadidja Ata came to the United States from Cameroon five years ago, she knew one word in English: “Hi.”

A refugee from the Central African Republic, she was 17, and she couldn’t read or write. But thanks in part to the International Rescue Committee, a New York-based agency that aids and resettles refugees around the world, Ata now speaks English and attends college. In August, she and her mother, Rose Nzata Ayeke, both became U.S. citizens, and on Nov. 6, like millions of other Americans, they will fulfill the ultimate act of civic responsibility: They will vote.

And these brand new voters make up a pretty large block of the electorate. Since the 2008 presidential election, more than 2 million people have become naturalized, and next week many of them will be voting in a presidential election in the United States for the first time.
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