OVERSEAS AMERICANS TO NOMINATE CANDIDATE FOR 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
(RACHMAD YULIADI NASIR, rbacakoran at yahoo dot com)
INDEPENDENT-Democrats living overseas will vote Tuesday in the 2008 U.S. presidential race, with the first ballots to be cast at the stroke of midnight in Indonesia, where Barack Obama lived as a child.
Over the next week, Americans in more than 30 nations will line up so their voices can be heard in the global primary, according to Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party representing expatriates.
Others will cast ballots for the first time ever by Internet - an option Republicans remain unable to offer members - while others stick to more traditional means, mail or fax.
The Super Tuesday campaign kicks off in Indonesia, where Obama lived with his mother from the age of 6 until 10.
Two hundred Democrats are registered to vote in the predominantly Muslim nation, said Arian Ardie, chair of the Democrats Abroad Indonesia.
Many are expected to gather at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in the capital, where Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, will speak to them by telephone.
Some 6 million Americans living abroad are eligible to vote in U.S. elections, but in the past only a fraction have done so, in part because their only option was to mail absentee ballot request forms to the last U.S. county of residence.
Republicans Abroad has operated independently of theRepublican Party since 2003, and therefore cannot hold in-person or Internet votes abroad.
