In this presidential election year, it is time to do the math.
Not the traditional math of counting electors, calculating swing states voters, or debating polling data. No. It's time to do the math regarding the profound and stunning increase in the number of new citizens who will be eligible to vote in this year's exercise in democracy.
According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) the fiscal year 2022 saw one million new citizens sworn in, citing it as the highest number of naturalizations in nearly 15 years. The government agency says this number reflects the Biden Administration's effort to address the backlog of applications that had grown during the COVID pandemic.
The FY 2023 statistics saw 878,500 new citizens participate in naturalization ceremonies that make them eligible to vote. By doing the math, we find that naturalizations in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 made up nearly a quarter of all naturalizations over the past decade.
It is as if Washington seeks to consciously create a demographic sea change as to who will now be able to go to the polls in 2024.
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