Polls with Camel glasses

October 27, 2008 - 5:34 PM by Harry · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Immigrant Moments, Politics

Voting with vats in the background A landmark event took place last night at Tel Aviv’s Dancing Camel brewery, where citizens of the United States were invited to vote for the next US president by an organization called Vote From Israel.

The first initiative of its kind anywhere in the world, Vote From Israel’s goal is to make it as easy as possible for US citizens currently in Israel to participate in the electoral process. The organization’s leadership estimates that out of 125,000 eligible voters in Israel this fall, only 42,000 are registered, so they worked 18-hour days through the hectic fall holidays to register some 7,000 to 10,000 more.

Now that the registration phase is complete, they’ve set up three events where people can hand in the absentee ballots they sent away for, or they can use Vote From Israel-provided Federal Write in Absentee Ballots. Everything is anonymous and sent via Federal Express to the voter’s relevant district office.

The press seems to be lapping it up, too, as a reporter from Newsweek and camera crews from Austrian public TV channel ORF and Israeli commercial Channel 10 competed for the most colorful comments from participants.

At last night’s event, six delicious flavors of beer were on tap, including a sweet and rich stout and seasonal brews seasoned with lemon and pomegranate bouquets. Voters were given coupons for half off of any beer. The Jets-Chiefs game was projected on an enormous screen.

After voting, participants were asked to complete an exit poll, surely a key element to the Vote From Israel concept. Although the organization is officially unaligned, it’s no secret that most Americans whose Zionist bent is strong enough to put them in Israel are likely to favor the 2008 Republican ticket. And with the influence that exit polls can have on undecided voters, one needn’t get so creative to conjecture the motivation behind Vote From Israel’s anonymous funders. The results of the organization’s exit polls can be released to the public a full week before the East Coast votes.

Regardless of the conspiracy theories, the beer, football and nightlife vibes kept the proceedings last night remarkably light. One reveler quipped that he had come to exercise his right not to vote, while another shrugged that he’s come just to meet up with friends, despite being Canadian.

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Tags: absentee, ballot, beer, brewery, Canadian, dancing camel, election, Federal Write in, football, hawkish, jerusalem, McCain, media, nfl, nightlife, Obama, poll, race, Republican, right-wing, survey, Tel Aviv, vote, Vote From Israel

Israel, the swing state

October 23, 2008 - 11:06 PM by David · 5 Comments
Filed under: General, Politics

While the Israeli-Arab conflict is probably somewhere under the plight of the spotted owl as an issue important to the American voter, Israel might end up playing an important role in the elections anyway.

According to Shimon Greenspan, director of the nonpartisan Vote From Israel organization, which helps Americans living in Israel to register and cast their absentee ballots, approximately half of some 42,000 registered US voters living in Israel are voting in swing states such as Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania

“If the election is close, as it was in the past two [presidential] elections, then the deciding votes could be coming from Israel,” he told The Jerusalem Post today. According to the organization, Israel has the third-largest group of American voters abroad, behind Canada and Britain.

Sensing that the Israel vote could be important, representatives of Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama are scouring the country try to woo voters, especially voters from Florida, according to the Bloomberg news agency.

Republicans Abroad in Israel has been passing out bumper stickers that carry McCain’s name rendered in Hebrew. Democrats Abroad set up booths on Israeli campuses to promote Obama, 47, to year-abroad students.

Kory Bardash, co-chairman of the Republicans Abroad in Israel, focuses on areas where there are lots of Americans, including the Tel Aviv suburb of Ra’anana and West Bank settlements Efrat and Maale Adumim. At a retirement home in Jerusalem, he helped register a 105-year-old Democrat, Miriam Pollack, who is from Delray Beach, Florida. Obama is “too much of a risk,” Bardash said she told him.

Democrats are signing up students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and promoting absentee ballots at house parties. A get-out-the-vote event closer to the election is planned at Mike’s Place, a bar overlooking Tel Aviv’s beach next to the U.S. Embassy, said Joanne Yaron, chairwoman of Israel’s Democrats Abroad.

Hey guys, it looks like we’re going to have our own elections to deal with soon. So chill out, and leave the voting to those Americans living in the US. We’re too busy dusting off our Center Party buttons.

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