New citizen heads to ballot despite lack of ideal candidates

Agustina Vergara Cid is heading to the polls this Tuesday, even though she says none of the current candidates fully champion individual rights. The Southern California News Group columnist became a U.S. citizen last year, a step that finally allowed her to participate in American elections after nearly a decade in the country.

Vergara Cid contrasts her upcoming vote with her past experiences in Argentina, where she lived for many years before moving to the United States in 2017. In her home country, voting is compulsory for adults between the ages of 18 and 70. She described the process as a duty owed to the state, often involving long lines and a limited choice of candidates who largely represented collectivist political views.

The new citizen emphasized that her decision to vote is a personal choice, not a mandatory obligation. She spent eight years in the United States living under laws she helped shape through speech and argument but could not influence through ballots. She noted that immigration laws specifically affected nearly every aspect of her life during that period. Now that she holds a U.S. passport, she views the act of voting as a way to assert her agency in the political process.

Vergara Cid acknowledged that the field of candidates is far from perfect. She stated that no realistic candidate fully stands for the founding principle of protecting individual rights. Despite this gap, she intends to vote because the right to choose representatives is a core component of the constitutional republic. She cited the Declaration of Independence, which states that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

The columnist explained that voting is a method for citizens to select agents who will exercise limited powers on their behalf. She stressed that this relationship means the government works for the individual, not the other way around. She argued that while a vote does not endorse every action a candidate might take, it does express a judgment about who is best suited to protect rights within the bounds of their delegated authority.

Vergara Cid also addressed the common sentiment that a single vote has little impact on the final outcome. She said she does not expect her ballot to change concrete results immediately. Instead, she views the act as a way to express her preference for how her government should operate. She noted that while voting is important, it is not the only tool available to citizens for preserving American principles.

She believes that speaking up and exercising First Amendment rights are equally essential to defending the ideas that made the country free. Vergara Cid stated that the idea of individual rights has lost ground in American culture, and she sees her role as helping to restore that focus. She plans to continue advocating for these principles in the community and the workplace after casting her ballot on Tuesday.