Muslim Voters Embrace Democracy at Local Election Event 

November 3, 2026 - 5:00 am

Mahmood Khadeer stands in front of a painting of a mosque at Muslim Association of Puget Sound, where he is COO. Photo by Jennie Cecil Moore.

By Jennie Cecil Moore, KBCS contributor

Safaa Raver Aldib was casting her ballot, and marking a milestone. “I never voted in my life, even back home in Syria. So it’s something meaningful,” she said. “This sense of freedom – of choosing really what do you want, what do you believe in – probably is my first experience ever in life.”

It was a chilly afternoon last week, and King County Elections officials were set up with an outreach table and ballot drop box inside the Muslim Association of Puget Sound, or MAPS, the largest Islamic center in Washington.

This election season has been marked by escalating Islamophobic rhetoric. Here at this Redmond mosque and community center, people were turning out to vote.  

‘The excitement level was very high’

Aldib is an outreach coordinator at MAPS, and she was one of several people at the event voting for the first time. MAPS and the King County Elections Outreach team scheduled the event on a Friday afternoon when a couple thousand people come to pray at the mosque. This was a non-partisan event, open to the public, where citizens could register to vote, update information, replace lost ballots, and cast their votes in the drop box.

Mahmood Khadeer, MAPS’ cofounder and Chief Operating Officer, has helped grow the community over 20 years, to reach 7,000 families from 50 different nationalities, including people from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, India, Pakistan, and Morocco. He said 50 or 60 people went through the voting event in the first hour: “The excitement level was very high.”

Khadeer is always looking for ways to increase this community’s civic engagement, especially during this election when immigrants, refugees, and Muslims are political targets. 

He said people he speaks with are looking for candidates who break through the rhetoric and “bring the whole country back together.”

“How can we be working together even though we disagree on multiple things?” he asked. “How can we as a community be united in our dealing with each other without disrespecting and without really marginalizing?”

Voting accessibility

Midterms tend to have lower turnout than Presidential elections, but King County officials expect a 75% turnout this year, equivalent to 2018’s record high turnout, midway through President Trump’s first term.

The event at MAPS was one of several around the region meant to make voting more accessible.

In a large room off the entrance to the center, Naheed Aaftaab sat with a colleague at a folding table with voter registration forms, ballots, and voters’ pamphlets, helping people who stopped by before and after prayer. Aaftaab, who is the language access and community outreach supervisor for King County Elections, emphasized that this event was open to the general public. “We had a couple of folks come in, not because they’re part of the community, but they just called our general number. They were told they could go here, this is close to them, and get a ballot.” 

Aaftaab said this kind of event is helpful close to election day because there isn’t time to process a new registration or get a new ballot through the mail. 

The event was especially convenient for Eihab Ahmed, who moved recently. His ballot was sent to his old address, so he came today to get a replacement ballot and vote “without worrying about going back to my old address and see if the new tenant can have my ballot and can give it to me.”

‘We are citizens, our voice should be heard.’

Ahmed, a pharmacist and a volunteer on the interfaith outreach committee at MAPS, has been rallying his friends and family to vote. “We are in a crucial time and it’s our duty to participate and not only speak up for ourselves, for also the under-served population in our communities.” He said a coworker asked him how he feels about politicians who attack his Muslim faith and community. 

“My answer was I think we are stronger than ever because we are being targeted directly. Now we are able to speak up and fight back because we are part of the community. We are citizens, our voice should be heard. We are Americans, and we are loyal to that.”

While many Americans are fearful about rights being eroded, Khadeer, MAPS Chief Operating Officer, said members of this community still see opportunities to embrace opportunities here. 

“I think they feel very empowered compared to back home in many places,” he explained. ”They feel we have more rights here, this is a great place. They feel belonging here, their kids are growing. They want to create impact; they want to be treated equal.”

He added: “The United States provides a great platform for them to be able to drive democracy.” 

Voting resources

In Washington State, you can bring your ballot to a drop box near you until 8pm today. You can also register to vote up to 8 p.m. today, but you have to do it in person or at a voting center.  

If you lost your ballot, you can get a replacement at a voting center or print a new one yourself. 

Find voting resources at votewa.gov and King County Elections.  

This story was edited by J Asarnow.

The election outreach table at MAPS Redmond on Friday, October 30, 2026. Photo by Jennie Cecil Moore for KBCS.