World

Overseas Voting: Online for the 1st Time

by politisite | February 5, 2008 at 11:14 pm

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LONDON (AP) - Americans seeking a change in foreign policy and a new national image abroad flocked to churches in Rome, town halls in England and an Irish pub in Hong Kong on Tuesday to vote in a Democrats Abroad primary.

The voting will determine who gets the 11 votes allocated to Democrats Abroad at the Democratic National Convention in August. The group is allowing online voting—a first for voters overseas—that will continue for one week.

Porchester Hall in central London was jammed with high-spirited voters Tuesday evening as rival groups backing Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama chanted and waved banners for their candidates.

Republicans, meanwhile, made their Super Tuesday choices known through absentee ballots and predicted their party would unite behind whomever is nominated and keep control of the White House.

Most Democrats abroad focused on the razor's edge contest between Clinton and Obama.

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Jordan Yerman

at 06:23 on February 6th, 2008

Yes- I took part in this, actually. The polling place was indeed a pub, here in Vancouver. I was amongst the first in line, but was unsure how legal it was to try and interview people before voting: what counted as the polling place: the table, or the whole pub? By the time I left (I only had to wait about twenty minutes), there was a queue of expat seppos waiting to voice their opinion: Dems Abroad actually counts as a separate "state" with eleven total votes.

politisite

at 10:22 on February 6th, 2008

Jordan: I think the DNC approved it for delegates for the Primaries. In the General election, Federal voting laws go into effect. The primary rules are put in place by the Parties. I would like to hear how you voted an why.. you can shoot me a private email. I am pretty sure that if the table was the polling place you had to be 70 feet away to interview anyone...