Important vote draws expatriates to Berkeley polls
The French voters trickled into a bilingual school in Berkeley on Saturday, their relative order and calm belying the titanic presidential election slated to take place Sunday a world away.
Some of the early voters were international college students, recently relocated from France and voting in their first election. Others were longtime Bay Area residents and dual citizens, familiar with weighing in from afar.
All, however, felt it necessary to turn out for what many see as the most pivotal political match in a generation, rivaling Brexit and the American presidential elections in the potential to define France’s identity and international relationships.
“More than ever, given recent events, I don’t think people can afford to be indifferent,” said Hannah Broido, 22, a UC Berkeley graduate. “You have to choose a side.”
Between the hacking attack on centrist Emmanuel Macron’s campaign, and the recent bruising debate with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, many said they had resorted to late nights and scouring French news websites to try to stay on top of the drama.
Helene Mialet, 49, a university professor in Toronto who also lives part time in Berkeley, said she stayed up until 1 a.m. to watch Macron and Le Pen face off live.
“I thought it was important to stay in touch with my country,” said Mialet, who also brought her 18-year-old son to vote for the first time Saturday. “France is totally polarized right now.”
Nowhere has that division been more apparent than on the prime-time debate stage where 39-year-old Macron recently called Le Pen a “parasite” who would lead the country into civil war, while Le Pen, 48, branded the former banker as a servant of big business who is soft on Islamic extremism.
Le Pen, whom President Trump has praised, would like to pull France from the European Union and has advocated for protectionist trade policies, cracking down on immigration and making the country militarily independent by leaving NATO’s command to avoid being “drawn into others’ wars.”
Macron, whom former President Obama recently endorsed, has doubled down on France’s role in the European Union in the face of Britain’s decision to leave. He has pledged to keep up French operations against extremists in Iraq and Syria and to increase the defense budget in line with NATO targets.
“I witnessed the Second World War, and I saw a lot,” said Jacqueline Gallo, 92, who regularly votes in U.S. and French elections. “It’s a very important election — it’s important more than ever to come out against the far right.”
For Khadija Bartlow, the most critical issue at stake in the election is immigration and keeping the country open to people from all different backgrounds. Bartlow, 45, was born in Morocco and immigrated to France as a child. The country was welcoming to her and her family at the time, she said, but as the economy has declined she has been troubled to see people becoming more hostile to foreigners, particularly those who aren’t white.
At the same time, Bartlow said she has friends, who also immigrated to France years ago, who support Le Pen and now favor restricting immigration in hopes of improving their job prospects.
“In some ways, I understand,” said Bartlow, who is an elementary school French teacher in the Bay Area. “It’s like a cake we used to have for six people and now we have to divide it between 20 — your piece is just going to be smaller.”
As she left the polls and opened her car door for her 10-year-old daughter, Bartlow said that despite the campaign’s vitriol and deep divisions between voters, she thought it was important for her daughter to come along.
“I wanted her to see how important it is to give your voice, no matter your choice,” she said.