Free Republic

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...