In A Second-Floor Room, Iraq's Vote Slowly Unfolds (Iraqi Vote Count Drama Alert)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 02/03/05 | Patrick J. McDonnell

[goldstategop]

Numbers are rolling in from about 30,000 polling stations that were set up across Iraq. Voters marked ballots that, in the case of the national assembly race, contained the names of 111 political slates vying for a portion of 275 seats.

The completed ballots were placed in translucent plastic boxes that allowed voters to see the ballots but not read them. Transparent boxes were deemed too revealing, opaque boxes too secretive.

On Sunday, it was clear that Iraqi voters appreciated the tactile nature of the process. In many cases, children watched as their parents marked the ballots and placed them in the boxes.

"There's just something very, very satisfying about marking a ballot and seeing it counted," the electoral official said. "I would never put a machine in front of them and expect them to trust that the button they pressed was going to lead to the result they wanted."

[goldstategop]

They're counting the vote slowly in Iraq. A very methodical and painstaking process of tabulating the returns before they're made public, is occuring in a second-floor room in a building in Baghdad's highly guarded Green Zone. A moment of accountability in Iraq's nascent democracy. What an inspiring read in a legacy media report on one of history's great dramas.

Denny Crane: "There are two places of truth. First God and then Fox News."

[ambrose]

Hopefully there won't be any Islamic SoreLosermans demanding a recount.

[goldstategop]

What's fascinating is they designed the ballot and the boxes to minimize vote fraud. And we think we're advanced when it comes to making every vote count? Iraq has something to teach us about how to do it better here at home.

Denny Crane: "There are two places of truth. First God and then Fox News."

[datura]

Too bad Sam Reed and the WA State SoS office couldn't go to Iraq and learn about free and fair elections. Or even to Afghanistan.

Thank you, Democrats. We can't do as well voting as a nation like Afghanistan which hasn't voted in 5 millenia.

[DB]

Lets hope the terrorist don't find where they're counting them.

[Steve Van Doorn]

"Lets hope the terrorist don't find where they're counting them."

If you read the rest of the LA times article you will see the LA times gave the terrorist some great clues on how to find the location. Can’t remember exactly but they said, it was on the second floor of a red brick billing in the green zone with some other clues. I can only hope they moved the location after the LA times gave so many clues out.