Jan. 12, 05

By Madhu Krishnamurthy Daily Herald Staff Writer

American-born Rami Turayhi voted in his first U.S. presidential election last November. In about two weeks, he will help elect leaders to a country he has visited only twice in his life.

Being the son of an Iraqi man qualifies Turayhi to vote Jan. 28-30 in the Iraq (news - web sites ) Transitional National Assembly Election. The 275-member assembly will appoint a central government and draft an Iraqi constitution.

It's the first time expatriate Iraqis living in the United States and 13 other countries will be able to cast ballots to affect political change in their homeland.

Locally, absentee voting will be done at polling centers in Skokie and another yet-to-be disclosed suburban location. More than 31,000 potentially eligible Iraqi voters in the Chicago area are expected to vote.

Young Iraqis, such as 22-year-old Turayhi, who was raised in the Chicago area and whose family now lives in Lake County, never knew life under the rule of despot Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) or the Ba'ath Party, which held a death grip over Iraq from 1968 to 2003.

"For us, the American-born children of Iraqi parents, (participating in the election) enhances the feeling of Iraqi community, and one of responsibility as well for our former nation," Turayhi said. "We have to all be part of the rebuilding process, not just let the people living there take all the burden onto themselves."

Chicago is one of five centers in the country - Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, Tenn., and Washington, D.C., are the others - where votes will be cast. Election organizers hope to reach out to 250,000 voters in United States, and up to 1 million worldwide. There are an estimated 12 million eligible voters in Iraq.

"It's quite an undertaking to organize an election in 14 countries," said Oliver Vick, head of the Chicago office of International Organization of Migration. "The biggest challenge we have to face is time."

The agency, which managed absentee voting for the Afghan elections, is tasked with organizing out-of-country voting on behalf of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.

Another challenge for election workers will be establishing voters' eligibility. Volunteers are being trained now, and eligibility will be determined during the voter registration Jan. 17-23 at the designated polling sites. Voters must prove eligibility as an Iraqi citizen over the age of 18.

One problem officials don't anticipate is security, an overriding concern in Iraq where insurgents have targeted anyone associated with the elections.

"I've been in contact with all of the security agencies, mayor's office, local police and Department of Homeland Security. There's no security risk essentially," Vick said.

Many Iraqis say they feel safe voting here but are scared for their people back home.

"They don't have the free will to go and vote in the election because they are afraid they are going to be killed," said 41-year-old Vernon Hills pharmacist Bashar Abdullah.

Abdullah doubts the election will go smoothly in Iraq when even the United States had issues with hanging chads.

"They had problems in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio in 2004 because of outdated electoral equipment," he said. "So I don't know how they think everything is going to be OK in Iraq where there is no electricity."

Abdullah said he would prefer if the election was delayed. Despite being conflicted, he still plans to vote.

Even as skeptics warn of failure and mayhem in the homeland, excitement over the election is mounting in the suburban Iraqi community.

It brings a long-awaited hope to the Assyrian population that makes up roughly 85 percent of Iraqi immigrants nationwide. The largely Christian community suffered religious persecution under Saddam, and many fled Iraq, their biblical and native home.

About 20,000 Assyrians in the Chicago area will be eligible to vote in the election, community leaders estimate.

"It means a lot to us," said Pete Dagher, a first generation Assyrian American who is serving as an election judge. "Really, for the first time in our lives, we have a say back there."

A successful election and democratic government in Iraq is critical for area Assyrians, many of whom still have family in Iraq. As an ethnic minority, Assyrians have been under attack from Islamic extremists since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

In the past month, more than 60,000 Christians have fled Mosul, the modern city that surrounds the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.

"We don't have the numbers to fight with guns," Dagher said, "so we'll fight at the ballot box."

Casting a vote won't be as easy. There are 111 individual candidates and political parties from which to choose.

Election volunteer Suhad Bahrani, a 50-year-old interior designer from Lake County, said voters need to do their homework on the candidates.

"The only thing that probably concerns me is I don't know much about those people," she said. "I don't know what they stand for."

Bahrani is not wholly disconnected from what's happening on the ground in Iraq. She has family and friends to consult on the matter.

She knows her vote and those of other expatriate Iraqis matter. Still, Bahrani said, "the real people who are going to make a difference in the election are the people who live there. We are just a supporter."

Daily Herald staff writer Stacy St. Clair contributed to this report.