Super Tuesday Abroad: Obama Takes Jakarta

Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 02.05.08 | 11:13 AM ET

World Hum contributor Joanna Kakissis recently blogged from Greece about the local enthusiasm for Barack Obama—and how the Greeks’ attitude toward her and the United States seemed to be warming as a result. Now, Americans overseas—Democrats, at least—are getting a chance to chime in. From Indonesia to the UK to a Starbucks outlet in Bangkok, they’re voting in the Democratic primary. The first results have come from Jakarta, where roughly 100 Democrats cast ballots: Obama got 75 percent of the vote to Hillary Clinton’s 25 percent.

It turns out it’s a rather historic occasion for expats. “It is the first time Democrats living overseas have had the chance to vote in person for their own delegates,” reports AFP. “The Republican Party, in contrast, does not elect convention delegates from abroad.”

The International Herald Tribune recently explained that “Republicans living outside of the United States cannot send delegates to the convention, but like Democrats they can vote by absentee ballot in the primaries in the state where they were last a resident.”