Americans in Israel cast their ballots

Hundreds of expats vote for next week's US presidential election at a private event in J'lem.

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
obama mccain 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
obama mccain 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Hundreds of US expatriates voted Tuesday night in Jerusalem for next week's US presidential elections. The event, which was organized by a private, nonpartisan organization, Vote From Israel, and was held at the OU Israel Center, aimed to get Americans living in Israel who were either uninformed about how to vote or otherwise unmotivated to cast their ballots in time for the November 4 elections. "This is so convenient I can't believe it," said Jill Stubbs, 33, a native of Santa Barbara, California, and a teacher at the capital's Anglican School. Stubbs said she was alerted to the event by an advertisement in The Jerusalem Post, which she produced from her purse neatly cut out. "Living over here gives you much more concern about what is happening in the world," she said. Many in the largely religious crowd, which surpassed 500 in the first two hours of the five-hour event, said they were voting for Republican nominee John McCain, in no small part due to his unequivocal support for the State of Israel, something they felt was lacking in his opponent, Democrat Barack Obama. "Obama is not very pro-Israel and Israel is very important to me, otherwise I wouldn't be here," said Shuli Atkin from Skokie, Illinois, near Chicago, who is studying at a seminary in Jerusalem. "Hopefully we'll make a difference," she said. Only a third of the estimated 125,000 Americans living in Israel who are eligible to vote have registered to do so, said Shimon Greenspan, director of Vote From Israel. The ballots amassed on Tuesday evening, along with several hundred from a Tel Aviv event on Sunday - where the turnout was predominantly secular - will be sent to the US via Federal Express in time for the fast approaching deadlines, which vary from state to state, Greenspan said. He said that many Americans living in Israel who registered to vote and did not receive their absentee ballots in the mail - likely because of delays caused by the recent holidays - could still fill in federal write-in ballots as long as they got them out in time. "I have really been stressed out by this election," said Mimi Luria, 31, a native of Brooklyn who has lived in Israel for five years. Luria, a Republican who confessed to "never loving" McCain to begin with, said the Democratic Party was carrying out "major reverse discrimination" regarding African-Americans. "It's guilt by association," she said. Some in the crowd were voting for the first time. "I never thought that my first vote in a US elections would be from Israel," said Sydney Kaufman, 18, from Cleveland, Ohio. Kaufman is studying for the year at a seminary; she said that voting from Israel made it an especially exciting experience. "I feel I have my say," she said.