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SIOUX FALLS (AP)
— A Sioux Falls man will drive 600 miles on
Wednesday to register to vote.
"I waited for 50 years to vote, and I don't care
about driving 600 miles," said Qadir Aware, a
Kurdish refugee who is the director of the
Multi-Cultural Center in Sioux Falls.
Aware and 70 others affiliated with the regional
Kurdistan Democratic Party will register. They will
make a second trip to Chicago vote in Iraq's
election Jan. 30.
Cities in Michigan, Tennessee, Maryland and
California also are holding registrations for the
election. Officials say about 240,000 Iraqis are
eligible to vote in the United States.
It will be Iraq's first independent election in
nearly five decades.
"This is the dream of millions, millions of Iraqi
people," Aware said.
Voters can be U.S. citizens but must be 18 or older,
have been born in Iraq, hold citizenship or prove
their father was Iraqi.
Sioux Falls physician Ali Jassim and his wife have
been living in the United States since the 1980s.
But he said they will not be able to travel to
Chicago.
"The closest is Chicago or Detroit, and that's a
long way to drive. The registration stations are
far, and in between, there is nothing," Jassim said.
"We cannot do it through absentee ballot."
Ali Jassim said the election is a chance for
freedom. It might not be perfect, but it is a first
step, he said.
"People in Iraq really don't know what is democracy.
They've been living under guns."
AP
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