Summary

NAME: US IRAQIS2 310105N TAPE: EF05/0099 IN_TIME: 10:18:41:18 DURATION: 00:03:34:19 SOURCES: APTN/ABC DATELINE: Various - 30 Jan 2005 RESTRICTIONS: see script SHOTLIST: ABC (WXYZ) - No Access Internet Detroit, Michigan 1. Wide shot of Iraqi polling station 2. Woman voting 3. Wide shot of voters 4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop, Iraqi voter: "Actually, I am a Christian-American and I want peace for everybody, the Christians, the Muslims, the Kurdish, everybody else. Being a Christian-American, I want to support my people." 5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop, Iraqi voter: "Everyone over there is happy right now in Iraq... nobody goes outside." 6. Iraqis at poll APTN - APTN Clients Only New Carrollton, Maryland 7. Ramada Inn motel being used as polling station 8. Police officers 9. Couple entering polling station 10. Female election worker 11. Passport photo - pull out to show voter registering 12. Woman stamping voting card 13. Woman walking to voting booth 14. Woman voting 15. Man casting ballot with daughter 16. Woman casting ballot with son 17. Man casting ballot (UPSOUND: "Celebrating Freedom") 18. Election poster 19. People dancing in parking lot 20. Man dancing in parking lot 21. Various shots of two Iraqi voters 22. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Makji Akhound, Iraqi voter from Karbala: "I feel very happy, and this is the first time in my life I have felt this way." 23. Women walking away from polling place 24. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Makji Akhound, Iraqi voter from Karbala: "We believe in a majority governing that can control the situation and it will be a step toward development, democracy, liberty, peace and diversity." 25. Men dancing holding flag 26. Children 27. Feet dancing on wet, snowy pavement 28. Two men hugging (FIRST RUN 0430 NEWS UPDATE, 31 JAN 2005) ABC (KABC) - No Access North America/Internet Irvine, California 29. Various of Iraqi-Americans dancing and celebrating in car park of polling station STORYLINE: Iraqis living in across the United States turned out to vote for Iraq's first free election in half a century on Sunday, in five polling station across the country. At a suburban Detroit polling site, it was with a mixture of joy and relief that expatriate Iraqis cast their paper ballots in a vote that would elect a 275-member National Assembly, the body that would draft the country's constitution. As they cast their ballots in Detroit some expressed relief that their family members in Iraq had been able to vote safely. As many as 9,700 voters were expected at the Michigan site. Iraqi expatriates in the United States are also voting at sites outside Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Nashville, Tennessee. In New Carrollton, Maryland, a suburb of Washington DC, voters were given until 2200 GMT to cast their votes Amid tight security, a steady stream of registered Iraqi voters braved a steady snow fall there to cast their votes. Election workers double-checked identities against registration forms, and inked voters' fingers to prevent fraud. Many parents brought children with them to witness the process. Outside a polling station in Maryland, a group of jubilant Kurdish Iraqis who had just voted danced in a parking lot celebrating the first act of democracy. Several Iraqis vowed to return to Iraq to help with the reconstruction process and to continue developing democratic institution. Outside a polling station in Irvine, California, Iraqi expatriates celebrated their homeland's first independent election in half a century. The election in Iraq was almost over by the time the doors of the decommissioned El Toro Marine Base opened on Sunday, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of scores of expatriates eager to cast their absentee ballots. The polling centre's car park was turned into a party venue, with voters waving flags, feasting and dancing to music blasting from car stereos. Nearly four-thousand people registered to cast absentee ballots in Irvine - the only polling station for Iraqi expatriates west of the Mississippi river. Many voters said today they had travelled hundreds of kilometres (miles) to vote, some from as far away as Phoenix and Denver. Voters said they were pleased to hear that the election in Iraq had a higher-than-expected turn-out and was marred by less violence than anticipated. The votes are expected to be counted on Tuesday. Sunday's vote marked the third and final day of overseas voting and coincides with election day in Iraq.