Civic Engagement Through an Outsider’s Lens

Franchesca Rugayan ’26 Politics major, started her political engagement early on in the Philippines, knowing that voter engagement was on the forefront of her mind. This summer as a McCarthy Fellow in Sacramento worked at the California Democratic Party, furthering her passion for advocacy. 

My application process for the McCarthy Fellows in Sacramento program began with immense uncertainty. Unlike most people who I’ve talked to about the program, my major isn’t directly related to Politics. I had only moved to the United States for college two years ago. As an international student, I knew that I had a lot of learning to do—adjusting to a new environment with new people, cultures, and politics. I took that challenge as an opportunity to involve myself in civic engagement here in California, and to learn more about everything I could from the perspective of an “outsider”, now looking in.

Being born and raised in the Philippines, voter engagement had become something I had grown to become deeply passionate about being a pivotal point in the 2022 Philippine elections. During that time, most of my peers were eligible to vote for the first time. The country was still recovering from the severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Injustices and human rights violations were rampant and left unchecked under the current administration, and historical revisionism about the country’s martial law era became prevalent, all while battling the probability of the son of our country’s former dictator, stepping into the presidential office. 

Unfortunately, my birthday was just a few months short of meeting the age eligibility requirement to be able to vote for that election. However, that did not stop me, along with thousands of Filipino youth from mobilizing and engaging for the election, for many of us for the first time. My experience with youth and voter engagement began in the midst of the pandemic, through my involvement as a member of my high school’s student council at the Ateneo de Manila Senior High School, wherein we were vocal of our support toward the candidates that reflected our values and took initiatives to encourage the student body to vote. I volunteered for the presidential campaign of former Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, and was also a team member in a non-profit called We The Youth Vote PH. Through this organization, I aided in reaching out to different institutions to provide resources geared towards educating young Filipino voters for the upcoming election through webinars, podcasts, magazine features, online concerts, and interviews.

Amidst facing backlash online, especially from older generations that persistently pushed the notion that we were “too young” to have a voice and have a say towards the Philippines’ future. That only sparked more reasons to take action, despite the limited avenues and resources we had available, as the country was still slowly easing lock down protocols during this period– change needed to happen. Despite the result of the election not being what we had hoped for, the hope for a better future did not fully dissipate and served as a cornerstone to  increasing initiatives for voter education and engagement for the future elections to come.

Hence, when I learned about my placement with the California Democratic Party for my internship in Sacramento, I was reminded of those experiences and my second time working towards an election that I couldn’t even vote in. This time, I was in a completely new country. Once again, there was a lot of uncertainty for me stepping into this role as an “outsider”. However, the work that I have done during my internship has made me realize the greater impact of what I did in the office, and how it translates to real-life. The tasks in my internship consisted of assisting the CA Democratic Party in preparation for their e-board Meetings, research and data entry to create various databases for county elected officials, attending to constituent phone calls, and aiding the preparation for the upcoming election and Democratic National Convention (DNC) happening in Chicago this month.

With the DNC fast approaching, it feels surreal that I helped in ensuring that the delegates would secure their accommodations, and be present for the event I would just see in the news. In the span of my 12-week internship, I was able to assist and observe how the election process operates, especially during unprecedented times. As President Joe Biden decided to step out of the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, I aided the team in calling all of the California Delegates, including elected officials for VP Harris to gain enough signatures to help secure her nomination from the Democratic Party. I also participated in their campaign advocating for reproductive freedom amidst the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, and  aided in providing feedback and revising a Know Your Voting Rights flier that will be translated to various languages and utilized during the November election in order to make it straight-forward and easily accessible to all voters. 

Every day, I was tasked to man the phones which was the most challenging and at times, taxing, yet the most insightful part of the job. Each day, what I would hear from the news would directly reflect each work day, which encouraged me to be proactive in order to engage and respond to constituents effectively. I was able to converse and assist people of all ages for the upcoming election, regardless of age and even political affiliation. I learned about their opinions, beliefs, lived experiences, and all the different facets that go into the election from a voter’s perspective. I answered calls from people as young as 15 to callers in their late 80s wanting to mobilize for the election, and make change happen which I found extremely profound and inspiring.  From the daily hustle of being in the office, and having to adapt to whatever happens during this election season has been extremely memorable as my first internship experience. Even in a small way, it is such a privilege for me to be able to be part of such a pivotal and historical election period for the United States.

Being able to learn about California state government and the elections not only through my internship with CADEM, but also through my fellows, turned good friends who have shared their knowledge with me through the diverse array of offices that they have been placed in, has been an invaluable experience. I have grown to value and appreciate California even more, with the learning and experiences I have taken with me from this summer. Ingrained in me is the understanding that civic engagement isn’t restricted to the boundaries of age, nationality, geographical location, or whatever factor may seemingly hold us back. In this case, having the opportunity to exercise your right to vote (or encourage those who can) is essential to fight battles and uplift communities beyond ourselves. If not for myself, it is for my peers, friends, immigrant relatives, and all communities who call this country home.