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Saturday, October 15, 2005
Soldiers note Iraqi voter turnout higher than back home
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yusufiyah, Iraq - The woman in the black abaya and bright blue dress zigzagged through a maze of concertina wire, around rifle-wielding Iraqi soldiers and into an elementary school to cast her ballot this morning.
One poll worker checked Sadia Ali Mutar’s identity. The next volunteer handed her a red, white and blue ballot. And a third man led her behind a cardboard screen. She checked “Yes” on her ballot, signifying she supports the proposed national constitution.
Louie Favorite/AJC
Sadia Ali Mutar shows off her ink-stained hand after voting Saturday.
Mutar proudly disclosed she had studied the document before arriving at her polling place. She hopes it will boost security in her mostly rural farming community, located about 10 miles south of Baghdad. This area is nicknamed “The Triangle of Death” for its violent insurgency.
“I know it very well. It’s a very good constitution,” she said through an Arabic interpreter who was working with Georgia National Guard soldiers at the voting sites. “I accept it 100 percent.”
Mutar, a homemaker and mother of nine, added she was glad she could vote in the referendum. “Women are very important in society,” she declared.
She dropped her folded ballot in a clear plastic container. And then an election official led her to a small table with an orange bottle of indelible ink. She dipped her right index finger in it. The blue stain lasts for 72 hours and protects against people voting more than once.
Mutar smiled as the poll workers encouraged her to show off her ink-stained finger. While she prepared to leave, a visitor asked her if she thought the constitution would pass. “Inshalah,” she responded in Arabic for “If God wills it.”
Louie Favorite/AJC
Volunteer poll workers frisk a voter as he enters the Omer Bin Kadab primary school in Yusufiyah.
A few hours later, insurgents mortared a separate polling place several hundred yards away. They fired a mortar at a third polling place Thursday, slightly injuring a small girl. They also fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the U.S. base here and fired mortars and detonated roadside bombs near surrounding U.S. and Iraqi checkpoints Friday. No one was injured in the attacks.
Poll workers paused for about 10 minutes when the mortar rounds exploded near them in an open field today. And then they resumed work.
“It’s like I heard music. We hear that everyday,” said Abtisam Abbas, 38, a pharmacist from Baghdad who was frisking female voters at the entrance to the site.
Like Mutar, Abbas voted for the constitution.
“We have to show the Arabic countries that we have democracy in Iraq,” said Abbas, who wore a cream-colored headscarf and blue floral-print dress.
Of the three polling sites in this town, Abbas was at the busiest. About 1,700 voters showed up there by 2:45 p.m. Turnout was light in the two other locations this morning. Less than 10 appeared at one site in the first hour.
Dozens of poll workers — who are each being paid the equivalent of $200 — stood around at one site with little to do, complaining that they wanted to eat. They predicted, however, that turnout would increase as the day wore on. The polls were set to close at 5 p.m.
Amad Hussein Asey is one of 265 volunteer poll workers who arrived here from Baghdad on cattle trucks Friday afternoon. He said he dreamed of his three young children as he slept Friday night at Sadir Al Yusufiyah, a girls secondary school.
Louie Favorite/AJC
Security was everywhere during Saturday’s vote.
“First of all, it is for my country,” said Asey, 37, a national treasury employee. “The situation in Iraq is bad. People need security and to stabilize their country.”
About 20,000 people were expected to vote here by the end of the day. The only requirements to vote: you must be an Iraqi citizen, at least 18 years old and have photo identification. Prisoners were allowed to vote earlier this week.
Ali Hatim Hussein, 22, a specialist in the Iraq army, took a break from manning a checkpoint today to vote. He said he hopes a new constitution will increase his county’s stability and make it unnecessary for U.S. forces to be here.
“We appreciate the coalition for what they did for us and we will never forget it. But it is important for the Iraqi citizens to see an Iraqi army protecting them,” he said.
Sgt. Casey Roberts stood guard outside the school where Hussein voted, observing people streaming in and out.
“It’s a better turnout then what you get back home,” said Roberts, 31, a police detective from Statesboro. “These folks are facing bodily harm to come here, but they are coming out. It’s kind of neat, something I can look back on and tell my kids about.”
Roberts is a medic, so he was popular this morning. An elderly man who showed up to vote approached him, complaining of involuntary shaking. Roberts said he appeared to have Parkinson’s disease. He promised to help him get medical care in Baghdad.
Earlier in the morning, one of the top Iraqi election official politely asked for Roberts and the other U.S. soldiers to stay outside the polling places. Maj. Ray Bossert agreed, instructing his men to keep a low profile. They were stationed at the voting sites, he said, only in case of emergencies. The Iraqi army was in charge of security.
“That’s the way it should be,” Bossert, 38, a retiree from Douglasville, said as he walked through the town’s garbage strewn streets. “There should be an Iraqi face on the whole thing. We should be in the background.”
Tahir K. Kadhim was one of the first voters to show up at his polling place this morning. The 63-year-old repairman wore his blue Ministry of Electricity jumpsuit to vote. It was open at the collar, revealing dark reddish skin weathered by Iraq’s scorching sun. He showed a poll worker his orange and blue government employee identification card.
“Just sign yes or no. You don’t need to write down your name,” a volunteer told Kadhim as he handed him a ballot.
Kadhim checked “yes” on the ballot, which reveals seashell designs when held up to the light. Kadhim said he cannot read but he heard about the constitution on TV and has faith it will make things better in Iraq.
“In Saddam Hussein’s time, there was security. But now we can’t feel secure in our city,” said Kadhim, who boasts about his two wives and 18 children. “We need security. And the people will get jobs. There are a lot of people who have no work. God bless everybody.”
Before leaving, Kadhim dipped his finger in the indelible ink. He said he wouldn’t try to conceal the stain or scrub it off, despite threats from insurgents. He said he wasn’t scared. God, he said, could take his life at any time.
