TUCSON — Newly naturalized citizens in Tucson are opening their first U.S. ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election, and some say they are not sure how to fill them out, according to a report by AZ Luminaria and Somos Tucson.
Gabriela Torres Luna, 43, a Tucson Unified School District teacher’s aide, became a citizen last year. She told the outlets she did not open the first ballot she received because she did not know how the process worked. This year she found Spanish-language voter materials in her packet. “I thought it was only in English,” she said.
Rocio Gallegos, 55, a permanent resident for 28 years before naturalizing two years ago, plans to vote in person on Nov. 3 for the first time in her life. She said citizenship preparation should include more training on how to vote.
About one in five Latino eligible voters in Arizona were naturalized citizens, according to a 2024 UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute report cited in the story.
Nationally, an October survey by the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at UC San Diego and the National Partnership for New Americans found 65% of naturalized registered voters had not been contacted about voting by a party, candidate or community group.
A UCLA Luskin School report cited by the outlets found monthly naturalization approvals fell 83% from a peak of 88,000 in April 2025 to fewer than 16,000 in August 2026. Pew researcher Mark Hugo Lopez attributed part of the drop to expanded background checks.
Sources: AZ Luminaria / Somos Tucson. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: California Secretary of State / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
