Just heard on CNN: 13 million of 14 million eligible Iraqis registered?

[hector459]

I don't believe this crap for on minute. Only 1 million Iraqis afraid to vote? Where do they get this numbers?

[w4rma]

1. lol (nt)

[CottonBear]

2. MSM reported on 01/26 that only 2,000

out of an estimated 22,000 =/- Iraqis living in the NE USA have registered to vote.

[zbdent]

13. Yes, but isn't Diebold counting the votes?

Ken Blackwell probably registered the Absentee ballots for the Iraqis . . .

[unblock]

3. can iraqi felons and ex-felons vote?

what about iraqis with last names that are similar to any felons?

just asking.

:shrug:

[dicknbush]

10. No but they can run for office!

See Chalabi (convicted of fraud and embesselment in Jordan)

[rqstnnlitnmnt]

4. how do they define "registered"?

for all we know, "registered" could simply be looking at some list of people (do they have something like SSN numbers that we use for universal ID?) and copying/pasting into the "registered" column.

this stinks of * tendency to change the definition so he doesn't get caught. (aka torture)

[FormerDittoHead]

15. I believe it had something to do with food distribution...

I remember hearing that the 'registrations' were tied to the food stamps which most Iraqis use.

So, if you want to eat, you have to support Bush Administration policy!

Isn't Democracy great? Texas Style!

[dicknbush]

5. Look there is no use expecting anything but a glorious turnout...

It is already scriptied. There is no way unless there is total mayhem and unabated attacks that this election is not going to be declared a "ROUSING SUCCESS" byt the liar in chief. Just be ready for it. THe press will go along the Fauz news will trumpet it from every station they own. There will be a barrage of pundits on the Sunday shows waxing eloquent about the bravery of the voters in Iraq YAD YADA YADA! They will be opining that even if the IRaqies don't really know who they are voting for it is still a glorious day for the Iraqie people because there was a vote. IT is a done deal Bush will declare another great moment in the history of mankind and then he will get back to running this country into the ground. Count on it!

[Oreo]

6. WP said only 50% on 1/14/05

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8608-2005Jan14.html

Half of Iraq Population Estimated to Vote

By HAMZA HENDAWI
The Associated Press
Friday, January 14, 2005; 4:16 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A senior election official estimates that half of Iraq's 15 million eligible voters will take part in this month's national election and says that to encourage a high turnout, those living in insurgency-racked areas will be allowed to vote in safer communities.

Farid Ayar of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission said he expected 7 to 8 million Iraqis to vote on Jan. 30 in a ballot seen as a major step toward fulfilling U.S. goals of building democracy here after decades of Saddam Hussein's tyranny.

"That won't be bad. It will be OK for Iraq at the moment," Ayar said Thursday outside his office in Baghdad's heavily protected Green Zone, home of the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices.

[StClone]

7. Saddam couldn't get a better turnout

I know some on the Right will hold these numbers dear. Mushrooms.

[sabra]

8. Is this the same CNN...

CNN: no polling places or election posters in Baghdad

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1533971

[realFedUp]

9. from LA Times article...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-usiraq26jan26,1,6062961.story

Few Iraqis to Vote Abroad

About 10% of eligible voters in the U.S. and under 25% worldwide register. Mixed feelings on the election and a lack of sites are blamed.

By Paul Richter
Times Staff Writer

January 26, 2005

WASHINGTON — Efforts to register Iraqi expatriates to vote in Sunday's elections have fallen far short of expectations, drawing fewer than 10% of the eligible voters in the United States and fewer than 25% worldwide, officials said Tuesday.

The program was launched two months ago by the Iraqi election commission — which is dominated by exiles — in hopes of giving a voice to Iraqis driven abroad by Saddam Hussein and of beefing up vote totals for the moderate Iraqi political parties led by exiles.
But as registration closed Tuesday, it became clear that the $92-million effort had been hampered by a late start, the long distances between registration sites and many expatriates' mixed feelings about the election.

Sam Kubba, an Iraqi American businessman in northern Virginia who lobbied hard to win expatriate votes, said he had been sorely disappointed in the result. "It was a long distance to travel … and the elections had lost credibility with some people," Kubba said.
A senior U.S. official said the low turnout meant expatriate voters would not be a major factor in the election, adding that the relatively low turnout in the United States was "not all that surprising."

"People have a way of settling in the United States and forgetting about the old country," he said. A tally that included all but the last day of registration showed that about 24,000 of an estimated 240,000 eligible Iraqi Americans signed up over the nine-day registration period, and about 256,000 out of an estimated 1.2 million eligible Iraqi expatriates worldwide. The figures suggest expatriate voters will be less influential than some analysts had forecast.

continued

[tanyev]

11. Excellent!

I wonder if 100% of them will vote for Allawi?

[bullimiami]

12. the population or iraq is over 25 million

why are so few going to be eligible to vote.
iraq has a very young population so to be fair the voting age should be low enough to allow young adults to participate.

i know the whole thing is a sham anyway but i thought maybe id debate just this one news (sic) tiem.

[Hugin]

14. It's all automated by Diebold...

The machines are set up in Jordan.

The RWers are doing all the voting for them so they
don't have to.

Just like here in the U.S.

[xultar]

16. That's what Rethugs collected Dem 2004 registrations for...ahhh O I C n/t

[Inland]

17. I believe every family on the food ration card is "registered"

The ration cards act like drivers's licenses--everyone has one.

But only one in ten Iraqis living overseas bothered to register.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1106405700914_17?hub=World

[robbedvoter]

18. Too bad - no polling places in Bagdad (and maybe other places)

There will be 3 day waiting lines - intrerrupted by frisking for their own safety... But the results - already in Karl's posession are looking really good!


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3987237.stm

Early exit polls quoted by media seemed to give Mr Kerry the edge, but colleagues said Mr Rove indicated right away that they did not tally with his information.

He used his own data to put Ohio and Florida in the Bush column - bringing cheers from the president and his family when he went into the Roosevelt Room and told them

[despairing optimist]

19. They "register" when they pick up their food rations.

According to Dahr Jamail, an independent reporter on the ground in Iraq whose site I recommend, there's a rumor circulating that if Iraqis don't vote, their food rations will be stopped. Here's the link to that story: .

One man he interviewed said "he was forced to sign a form saying he had picked up his voter registration. He believes that the government may use this to track whether he votes or not. This rumor has circulated broadly around Baghdad even though there appears to be no truth in it."

I wonder how that rumor started. Effective motivator, though.

[satya]

20. And next week, they'll report that 16.5 million of them voted. n/t