Expats, youth turn up to vote in large numbers

New Delhi: Voting was not an all American affair. Expats voted for Super Tuesday globally online, through absentee ballot and at 76 polling booths across 33 countries and they were all Democrats.

The Republicans had made no arrangements for expat voting.

Thousands queued up to vote at a hall in west London to cast their vote. London has one of the largest concentrations of Americans — more than 2 lakh.

In Paris, home to around 600 Americans, many turned up to vote in churches.

In Delhi, a fifth of the 500 plus registered Democratic Party voters voted at a local restaurant on Tuesday.

Voting in Delhi continuing through this week as well. In fact so enthused are Democrats abroad India by this response that they are planning to open their Mumbai and Bangalore chapters in time for the presidential election in November.

Young Voters

The US elections have seen a surge of interest from young voters, many of whom are turning up for the first time to cast their ballots.

Fifty nine per cent said they had voted for the 46-year-old senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, versus 38 per cent who had gone for his 60-year-old New York counterpart — Hillary Clinton.

The youth vote has already played a key role in earlier primaries.

In New Hampshire, 18 to 29 year olds accounted for 18 per cent of Democrat voters and 14 per cent of Republican voters.

In South Carolina they made up 14 per cent of Democrat voters, up from 9 per cent in 2004.

And in Florida, 18 to 29 year olds made up 9 per cent of the Democrat vote and 7 per cent of the Republican vote.