Iraqi election watchers expressed concern today about the potential for vote fraud in United States polling places where Iraqi expatriates will be allowed to cast absentee ballots for the January 30 Iraqi elections. "Clearly it is to the Bush administration's benefit to get out the vote, and we're concerned about possible efforts to stuff the ballot boxes in a number of locations," said Iraqi Election Commission spokesman Kasim Sulton. "Walgreens stores in Detroit and Los Angeles have reported a spike in sales of brown shoe polish and Groucho glasses to young Republican types, and it sure ain't Halloween."
In Chicago, one of five U.S. cities where voting will take place, there were reports of deliberate disinformation being passed along by Republican-organized "voter education centers" in an attempt to rig the vote. Independent election watchers cited as typical the statement of one potential voter, Ahmad Jamal, who said, "We've been briefed on the 'Chicago Way' of voting, so we plan to vote early and vote often. Also, I understand that I can cast proxy ballots for my dead cousins Anwar, Ali, and Assad, if I can give the address of their cemetery. That will be difficult since they're buried in Fallujah, where all the street signs have been destroyed, along with most of the streets."
Forces hostile to the election have also been at work in the U.S. Iraqis in Florida have been dissuaded from voting by reminders of the "hanging chads" incident in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. "Ugh, don't speak of 'hanging,'" said Ahmad Jamal. "That's how Anwar, Ali, and Assad died."
Groups trying to sabotage the election have also capitalized upon the relative lack of U.S. voting locations. Election officials uncovered a plot to charter 2,000 tour buses with signs saying "Iraqi Election Thisaway!" to pick up Iraqis at various spots throughout the U.S., with the actual intention of depositing them in Branson, Missouri. "We're not sure if this is a Sunni attempt to subvert the election or an overzealous campaign to elect Yakov Smirnoff," said Sulton.
Citing these and other sabotage efforts, Bush spokesman Tuli Kupferberg was unapologetic about Republican efforts to influence the voting process. "A lot of fighting and dying has taken place to ensure Iraqi democracy," said Kupferberg. "We won't rest until we turn Iraq into a red state."
