HIGH POINT, N.C. (WFMY) – 8 newly naturalized citizens that came to the U.S. as refugees, exercised their voting rights as citizens in High Point today.
The group are Bhutanese refugees that resettled in the United States in 2009.
They became American citizens in 2015.
One of the women, Babitra Bhandari, exercised her right to vote for the first time.
She shared she feels “very good” about voting and is happy she can now do it.
Her son, Dev, explains that they were stripped from their citizen rights when they were removed from their native Bhutan.
“We lived in a refugee camp for 17, 18 years, we never had the privilege to go out and actually vote,” he said.
Dev and his mother emphasized how important voting is to them as individuals who couldn't’t before.
“Once you become a citizen I feel everyone should feel responsible to giving back to the nation, giving back to the country,” Dev explained.
Bhandari encouraged others like herself and the rest of those eligible to vote to get out and do it.
“This is not only our right as citizens, but our responsibility,” she said.
“I want to encourage all the community members, all the community leaders to motivate people to just do, to take this opportunity to go out and vote and make themselves count,” her son added.
The newly eligible voters gathered at the Deep River Recreation Center, an early voting site in Guilford County, to cast their vote.
Church World Service, a ministry that provides refugee services among others, are helping the local new citizens to get out and vote.
Many Bhutanese refugees have resettled in the United States and other countries after ethnic cleansing efforts by their parliament in the 1990s.
Bhutan is a predominantly Buddhist south Asian country.
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