Two American Muslims Elected to Massachusetts Electoral College
By Tahir Ali
Parwez Wahid and NazdaAlam were elected to the Massachusetts Electoral College. In all there are 11 Electoral Colleges in the State of Massachusetts out of which two are Muslim Americans. Another proud moment for American Muslims proving that consistent political engagement pays off eventually and helps in putting American Muslims on the US political map. This is a testimony to the fact that this demography is to be reckoned with.
The Electoral College is the institution that elects the President and Vice President of the United States of America every four years. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors.
Most of us who are participating and have been following US presidential elections for the past years have come to realize the significant of the Electoral College body. The Presidential candidate who receives 270 electoral votes gets to occupy the corner office in the White House.
Election to the Electoral College is largely a recognition from State Committee colleagues for service and contributions to the Democratic Party. Alam's and Wahid's candidacy for elector earned the endorsement of many individuals in the Democratic Party leadership.
Parwez Wahid (shown being sworn in as a member of DSC) and NazdaAlam (shown in the center along with fellow DNC National Delegates MsHomairaNaseem and Noman Khanani) - both serve on the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee (DSC).
Parwez Wahid, of Framingham serves on the DSC in an at-large Affirmative Action seat. He became a member of the State Committee in 2007 winning an election to fill a vacancy and has since been elected to full four-year terms on the DSC in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
NazdaAlam, a resident of Weston, Massachusetts is an elected National Delegate in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. She along with other Muslim delegates went to Philadelphia to attend the DNC this year. NazdaAlam has been involved with political activity quite early.
Both NazdaAlam and Parwez Wahid concur with the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Tip O'Neal who is most closely associated with the phrase "all politics is local". Nazda has been on the Weston Democratic Town Committee since 2002, and Parwez was a past Chair (2006) and Secretary (2004) of the Framingham Democratic Town Committee. During his term as Chair, he launched several initiatives to increase the Committee’s activities and visibility. As apolitical activist he has worked actively on campaigns ranging from local municipal positions all the way up to President of the United States.
NazdaAlam hails from Bangladesh. He first came to Houston in 1982 as a student before moving to Massachusetts six years later. This year, NazdaAlam was also invited to the State of the Union address by President Obama. NazdaAlam is very active in voter registration drives and educating communities on the importance of vote. She lives in the town of Weston with her family.
Parwez Wahid originally from Pakistan lives in Framingham with his wife, a nurse and two grown-up sons.
