Americans overseas first to vote in Super Tuesday primary
By DIKKY SINN Associated Press Writer

HONG KONG (AP) _ Americans living abroad voted for their Democratic candidates in the 2008 U.S. presidential elections Tuesday _ the first day of the weeklong overseas balloting.

Some started lining up at polling stations in hotels, coffee shops and pubs in Asia, while others quietly cast their ballots online for the first time.

Turnout for the global primaries was expected to be high, with party members saying the number of registered participants had surged more than sevenfold from the 2004 campaign.

Indonesia, where contender Sen. Barack Obama once lived as a child, kicked off voting at the stroke of midnight. More than a hundred people turned out, saying it was important to restore the United States' reputation following damaging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

''We've had eight years of an administration that has basically destroyed America's image,'' said Peter Gardiner as he waited in line with his family at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in the capital, Jakarta.

Some 6 million Americans living abroad are eligible to vote in U.S. elections, but only a fraction have done so in the past. Up until recently, the only option available was to mail absentee ballot request forms to their last U.S. county of residence, then wait for ballots to be mailed in time to vote.

That is still the case for Republicans.

But Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party, made it possible this year for members in more than 100 nations to directly vote on Super Tuesday _ the busiest day in the U.S. primary election season _ in person, online and by fax and mail. Overseas voting lasts for a week.

Melissa Howell-Alipalo, a longtime resident in the Philippines, could not wait until polls opened there Saturday, opting instead to vote online.

''I registered with Democrats Abroad, I was approved, received my ballot number and a pin code in an e-mail. I clicked on the hyperlink, entered my ballot number, address and birth date.''

Then presto, she voted.

But Tim Fletcher, an assistant professor from North Carolina living in Hong Kong, said he felt more comfortable putting his vote on paper. He was among some 200 eligible primary voters to cast their absentee ballots after work in a downtown pub.

''You never know what's going to happen with internet. The cable got cut in the Middle East last week,'' said Fletcher, sipping a pint of beer after he voted for Hillary Clinton.

One expert warned Internet ballots could be vulnerable to tampering, computer hacking and could not be authenticated or recounted.

''Just because it was simple, doesn't mean it's successful,'' Barbara Simons, a member of the San Francisco-based nonprofit Verified Voting Foundation and a critic of electronic voting, said in a telephone interview.

''How do I know if ballot box stuffing was done?'' she said. ''How do I know they were legitimate votes? This is not the way to run an election.''

Interest among Democrats overseas appeared to be at an all-time high, partly because of the online option.

''The participation will already be sevenfold to what we had in 2004,'' Meredith Gowan Le Goff, Democrats Abroad vice chair for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said from Paris.

Dozens of people stopped by Japan's polling both in downtown Tokyo.

''I love that we get to cast the first votes on the Super Tuesday primary day,'' said Lauren Shannon, a Pennsylvania native and chairwoman of Democrats Abroad there. ''I see a significant difference between concerns of voters abroad and at home, and I feel we should have an individual voice.''

Hundreds of Democrats are registered in Indonesia, where Obama lived with his mother from the age of 6 until 10. That tie apparently helped him garner 75 percent of the votes compared to 25 percent for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to an unofficial early tally.

Ari Bassin, a 31-year-old New York native, was among those to choose Clinton.

''She brings heft to the table and has respect from around the world that, at this point, I'm not sure Obama has,'' he said, before heading back into Jakarta's rainy streets just before 2 a.m.

The Democratic National Convention in August will include 22 delegates from overseas. Under party rules, they get half a vote each for a total of 11. That's more than U.S. territories get, but fewer than the least populous states, Wyoming and Alaska, which get 18 delegate votes each.

The overseas delegates will be selected through a combination of local, regional and worldwide caucus meetings.

Republicans Abroad has operated independently of its national party since 2003, and therefore cannot hold in-person or Internet votes overseas. But it is organizing to get more expatriate Republicans registered back home in time to receive their ballots overseas and cast them in primaries later this year.