Covenant News

Covenanter Moved by Iraqi Voting Process

CHICAGO, IL (February 8, 2005) - A Chicago woman who recently helped with the Iraqi out-of- country balloting says she is just beginning to process the historic event that left her on "the verge of tears much of the time."

"I've never seen anything where the excitement was so contagious," says Mary Train, a longtime Covenanter. "The Iraqis turned the event into a celebration of freedom. They were breaking out singing. A Kurdish man kept telling us 'thank you' for doing this."

Iraqi citizens living in the United States could vote in one of five cities: Chicago, Nashville, Detroit, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Voting took place over three days, from January 28-30. Voting was preceded by registration that began January 17 and continued until January 25.

Train, who helped with the registration as well, said she was moved by seeing people driving 10 hours each way only to repeat the same trip several days later to cast their ballots. "I was excited when I first voted," Train recalls, "but nothing compared to this."

There was little talk of American involvement in the war, says Train, commenting that she received a lot of history about Iraq from expatriates who told her that Mosul, a city that has experienced some of the most intense fighting, is located near the historic biblical city of Ninevah. "That was awesome to learn those things," she says.

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