As a recently naturalized citizen of the United States, one of my new entitlements is the right to vote. This Tuesday will be the first time I will exercise that right in a presidential primary. The ironic thing is that I've been living in America for the past thirty-four years, since the age six, when my family first immigrated from my native Ghana. Even though I entered the country legally, due to a series of mistakes, missed change-of-status filings and other technicalities much too complicated to explain in this forum, I spent most of my adult years as an undocumented immigrant. For me, one of the most frustrating aspects of being an illegal immigrant was the fact that I had no voice, no say in helping to decide the direction in which this country, the place I'd called home for the majority of my life, was headed. Voting, in my mind, was one of the most important ways for residents to stake claim to their land. If not, why would so many people-women and African Americans-have marched, protested and sacrificed their lives for suffrage? Many election days have found me driving by the polling centers in my neighborhood, staring at the citizens entering and exiting, wishing I were among them. So, this year, knowing that I would finally be able to take part in that process, I decided to educate myself on our system of voting, namely how it works and what it entails. I didn't know much about either the Democratic party or the Republican party so when I registered I checked the box with "Decline to State" written beside it. I started reading up on all the candidates, researching their voting records and finding out what their stance was on issues that I felt were important. I've gotta admit: the material was dense and utterly confusing. I began having conversations about the candidates with friends and colleagues, only to discover that many of the people I spoke to were basing their decisions on criteria that was, at best, simplistic and/or superficial like personality, gender, race, hairstyle, and age. Even more shocking in my quest to become more knowledgeable about the voting process was the realization that a surprisingly large number of citizens were as ill-informed as I was. For instance, I wanted to understand what it meant for a candidate to win in a state's primary election. Would that candidate automatically get all the delegates from that state? What becomes of that state's delegates in the event of a tie between the candidates? Does the person with the most delegates win the party's nomination? What is a super-delegate? It seemed as though the more questions I asked, the less information I received. It's a bit disconcerting to me that so many people find it difficult to understand how their individual vote factors into the process of nominating a candidate and then, beyond that, electing a president. This is not to say that I blame them. As much reading and asking as I've done, I still don't understand the whole concept of an electoral college. It doesn't make any sense to me, especially when you start throwing in terms like "popular vote," and "faithless electors." I especially find it difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that it is possible for the majority of Americans to vote for a candidate and for that candidate to not be elected as President. Whereas I began my new citizenship feeling excited and empowered by my right to vote, I'm moving into this primary election feeling deflated and, frankly, a little disempowered by what I now view as a tremendous distance between what takes place in the booth and what the ultimate decision as towho will be our next President is based upon. It could very well be that. I'm speaking out of sheer ignorance; but then again, that's my case in point. If, after everything I've gone through in my effort to be a well-informed citizen and a thoughtful voter, I'm still basically ignorant, then perhaps the system is not structured in such a way as to encourage or include the participation of the average citizen. In short, I'm beginning to understand why a lot of people either don't vote or don't feel that their vote matters. For my part, I'm still committed to staking my claim to this country and having a say in its future. I'm still determined to cast my first vote on Tuesday morning. And with any luck, maybe it will count for something. Source: Meri Nana-Ama Danquah/ebonyjet