Citizenship applicants caught in backlog distraught over inability to vote this year: ‘I feel like my voice is not going to count’

Aug 31, 2020

By Michelle Ye Hee Lee

August 31, 2020

Ten months ago, Laura Muñoz applied to become an American citizen so she could cast her first vote this fall in the country she calls home. For Muñoz, who moved to Miami from Colombia at age 12, the opportunity to vote felt like an auspicious way to mark a new decade.

But the 26-year-old hasn’t heard back about the next step in her naturalization process, even though she is in the final stages. With the early October voter registration deadline in Florida quickly approaching, she is no longer confident about her prospect of voting for the first time this year.

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