When citizenship judge Terry O’Malley first presided over ceremonies six years ago, around 50 people would swear an oath to Canada.

Now, that number is closer to 100; at one recent Saskatoon ceremony, he swore in 98 people from 24 different countries.

Regina Open Door Society settlement and family services manager Getachew Woldyesus doesn’t think new Canadians will change the outcome of the federal election in Saskatchewan, but says in large, ethnically diverse centres in Ontario or B.C., the impact of the immigrant vote will be significant.

Neither Elections Canada nor Elections Saskatchewan track the number of immigrants who register to vote, but Canada sees around 250,000 new citizens each year, and O’Malley says a lot of them are “politically alert.”

“A lot of people come over here ... and these people are highly educated,” he said.

Encouraging newcomers to vote is part of the job when you’re a citizenship judge, and, at their citizenship ceremony, all new Canadians receive information about how to register.

Late last year, the Institute for Canadian Citizenship conducted a study called Ballots and Belonging, in which they spoke to new citizens about their political participation.

Head researcher Heather Steel says new Canadians are often incredibly motived to vote and “have their voices heard.”

It was a “long process” for many respondents to become citizens, she says, and many felt casting a ballot was a “real way” to give back to their new country and “feel their voices mattered.”

For new Canadian Claudio Della Valle, the decision of whether or not to vote in the upcoming federal election was simple.

“To me, it’s a right to vote and voice your opinions on the way the country is being run, because we’re the ones living here and the ones dealing with these day-to-day issues,” he says.

“Why wouldn’t you want to exercise that right?”

Woldyesus says many new Canadians feel that way, particularly if they came here from a country where they were unable to vote or corruption was so rampant it didn’t count for much.

When it comes to issues close to the hearts of new Canadians, Woldyesus names the economy and immigration.

The latter is often of particular interest to those who still have family members outside the country, and Della Valle certainly puts it at the top of his list.

An Australian who jumped through all the hoops to finally become a Canadian in Regina on July 15, recent changes to laws will “absolutely” impact his vote on Oct. 19, and he suspects many other new Canadians feel the same way.

Steel says of the respondents who didn’t vote, the reasons most cited were inconvenience and a lack of access to party and candidate information.

That resonates with Regina’s Nihar Vakharia, who became a Canadian citizen on July 16.

He doesn’t plan on voting in the upcoming federal election — simply because he doesn’t know who to vote for.

As a small-business owner who works a second job, Vakharia doesn’t have a whole lot of time on his hands to research platforms, and he’s disappointed no candidates have reached out; midway through the campaign, no pamphlets have been dropped off and nobody has knocked on his door.

“I don’t want to vote for the wrong person,” he says.