Philadelphia Area Residents Become U.S. Citizens, Registered Voters
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Twenty Philadelphia area residents became new U.S. citizens at a ceremony in the City Hall courtyard Friday. And nearly all of them did the same thing for their first official act as Americans.
It's no accident that Guy David Bru took his oath of citizenship two weeks before the deadline to register to vote.
"I wanted to do it before some people trying to represent the country get elected and maybe change some laws about immigration," he tells KYW Newsradio.
He says he was a citizen for about two minutes before registering.
Bru was not alone.
The city commissioners took advantage of the proximity of the swearing in and the beautiful weather to set up a registration table and to a person, the new citizens filled out forms.
Taking the oath so close to this particular election may seem like a leap of faith, but for Kathy and Adrian Rawcliffe, that made it all the more important.
"We learned about the checks and balances in our civics exam and I think the US has a secure democracy, but we do think it's important," Adrian says.
"We feel very strongly it's very important to vote, it's very important to participate in the democracy," adds Kathy.