I am very confused about how many iraqi's actually voted!

[Riding this Donkey]

Here is a snippet from a previous newsday article:

Registration. The registration period was supposed to be from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15, but election officials do not know how many of Iraq's 15 million eligible voters have registered so far and it is unclear whether those who have not registered will be able to cast a ballot by showing up at polling places Jan. 30 with proper identification.

Iraqis are supposed to register in their area of residence, which is determined by their UN food ration card. Registration efforts have not even started in Anbar province, home to the Sunni Muslim cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, where insurgents were entrenched for months before being driven out by a major U.S. offensive last month. In Mosul, a northern city where insurgents also have a strong presence, a warehouse full of registration forms was set ablaze last month.

Election officials have made contradictory statements about whether Iraqis will be able to vote without being pre-registered. The consultants say the commission is waiting to see how many people register by Dec. 15 before it decides whether to allow registration on election day.

"If there are people who are not on the voter register, they can come with two pieces of identification and they can register to vote," the commission's chairman, Hussain Hindawi, told a UN publication on Nov. 24. "The pieces of identification have to be things like a passport, or a card showing their military service." But Ayar, the commission's spokesman, said registration would not be allowed Jan. 30. "People have to register ahead of time in order to vote," he said. "They can't just show up and vote. They have to be on the voter lists."

This says there are 15 million eligible voters, not registered. I also hear before that only 10% of this 15M eligible had actually registered. By my numbers, there is no way possible that 8M people cast votes yesterday.

Am I missing something, can somebody please help straighten this out. It appears the MSM is just reporting percentages of eligible voters, not registered and getting their numbers from there. I cannot stand this propaganda. Unless I am wrong.

Please help me understand this.

Here is the Newsday article link.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woelec1208,0,4700439.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines

[Spazito]

1. LOL, Me too!

I am taking all the accounts to date a pure propaganda. All reports are coming out of the 'green zone' as reporters won't leave it because of safety reasons. Registration was and continues to be a mystery as does the process in total.

[nickinSTL]

2. BBC reports that the actual turnout numbers won't be known for weeks

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4221809.stm

[sickinohio]

3. I'm also curious - how can an Iraqi-American vote in the

presidential election here in the US and then vote in the Iraqi election also? That doesn't seem right to me. Just curious.

:shrug:

[Riding this Donkey]

4. That's a good point!

also, when we do get these final numbers, will it include all of the iraqi nat'l guard, all 120,000 of them, voters outside the country (expats), all of the people running for the office all 19,000 of them.

I want a real true number. And I don't believe I will ever get one!

[gordianot]

5. Good observation. Although many American's claim dual citizenship.

I did not think dual citizenship is recognized by the United States. I guess you can keep your old passport. Curiosity is not a healthy value in 21st Century Amerika. It is best to remain confused.

[sickinohio]

6. Remaining confused has not been a problem for me of late

:wtf:

[Riding this Donkey]

7. I don't know how much more I can take!!!!!!

;(

[sickinohio]

8. You got that right - We in the America can't even have our votes

counted once - and the Iraqi-voters can vote twice?? Doesn't make sense to me.