Iman Abbas (left) holds her son Ahmed Al Kanani.

DEARBORN – Voter identification requirements prevented several members of metro Detroit’s Iraqi American community from voting in their homeland’s parliamentary elections this week. 

The Iraqi Parliamentary Elections were held on Wednesday, April 30, but thousands of Iraqis in Michigan had the opportunity to cast their ballots in advance at two local polling locations Sunday, April 27 and Monday, April 28. 

Sources who worked at the polling stations told The Arab American News (TAAN) that 3,437 votes were cast at the Dearborn voting center, and 2,138 votes were cast at the location in Warren. 

The turnout was quite low, considering Michigan is home to the largest concentration of Iraqi Americans in the country, with well over 200,000 living in the state. 

Much concern is being raised about whether voting outside Iraq should be allowed in the future, since turnout was low in both this election and the previous one. The turnout may have been higher had issues with identification not emerged. 

Voters were required to present both non-expired Iraqi and U.S. identifications. Many had difficulty presenting valid Iraqi identification, which had to be in its original form. Copies of Iraqi documents were not accepted. 

“There is a lot of people who came to vote, but they didn’t allow them to vote because most of the Iraqi peoples’ original papers are back at home. They had the copy, and you had to have the original,” said Amir Tomm, who worked as a station manager at the voting center in Dearborn.

says an overwhelming number of voters were turned away at the Warren polling station because they did not have the Iraqi identification required to participate. 

He says in 2005 voter turnout in the elections was significantly higher, but in 2010 it dropped. 

Roumayah called the Iraqi identification requirements “ridiculous,” since a large portion of Iraqis in Michigan have lived in the state for decades, and their Iraqi documents are expired, while others may only have copies.

He says so many people were turned away at the Warren location on Sunday that it discouraged others from coming out to vote Monday. 

Dr. Anwar Baker.

One Iraqi American, a resident of Farmington Hills who immigrated to Michigan from Iraq more than 30 years ago, could prove that he was an Iraqi native when he presented his U.S. citizenship papers, but since it was an American form of ID, election officials did not accept it. He voted in the last two Iraqi democratic elections, and he said the process has become more difficult over the years. 

“The community is very dissatisfied… Iraqi people, we love our country. We want to participate and we want to choose our new government. When people are prevented from voting, you take away their pride,” Roumayah said. 

He says there wasn’t enough done to educate the community on the elections in advance. Roumayah complained that the locations of the polling stations were released the same month as the elections themselves. 

Ibrahim Malik, the executive secretary at the Consul General of Iraq’s office in Detroit, says the organization informed the community through its website, community websites, local newspapers and local TV channels. “We have received countless phone calls with questions regarding the elections, and we did our best to answer them thoroughly,” he said. 

Twenty-year-old Mohamed Al-Yaqubi, a Garden City resident and Iraqi American who spent hours at the Dearborn location on both days, said on Sunday he only witnessed four people turned away over identification issues. He says some people who were turned away were very upset because they traveled from other states to vote. 

Polling station volunteers say the regulations on the types of documents voters are required to present were established to prevent voter fraud and insure the integrity of the election process. The Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq, which oversees the elections, creates the voting requirements. The Commission did have information and instructions on voting prior to the elections. 

Al-Yaqubi says the requirements are fair and that only a small number of people were turned away. “I definitely agree that they should have clarified what the requirements were at least a month in advance… There was some lack in preparation and organization,” Al-Yaqubi said. “At least post the types of documents you need a month in advance.” 

Al-Yaqubi says the staff working at the Dearborn polling station was very well organized and professional. 

“There was so much diversity among the voters. There were people from all different parts of Iraqi and Iraqis of all religions. It was almost like a mosaic,” he said. “It was a very easygoing and fast process.”  He says local Iraqis also tried to spread awareness about the elections through social media. 

Voter turnout among the youth was very impressive, and many young Iraqi Americans volunteered at the polls. “The youth, the old and the disabled, all Iraqis are striving for change, and sickened from sectarian plague,” Al-Yaqubi said. 

Saoud Alwaelu, 25, volunteered his time at the Dearborn polling location as an election observer. 

Several political parties had observers available to make sure no one tampered with the process. About 30 observers at the Dearborn polling location represented different parties that appeared on the ballot. 

“This is my country. I am going to go back there one day. I would love to see it back to normal. Hopefully this election will prompt change,” said Alwaelu.  

Voters saw the elections as an opportunity to help make life better for Iraqi civilians, who are both living in a country plagued by sectarian divides and recovering from a war that spanned more than a decade. 

“It is very important for me to give my voice because I have to change the face of the government. If a new face comes in, maybe a new law will come in, a new regime will come in to the Iraqi government. We feel that when new people come in, good things happen. Things will not change right away for the Iraqi people, it will take time,” said Saad Alkani, who came to the United States in August 1997. 

“Always, always, Iraq will stay inside my heart. We were born there. we love the country. We will keep fighting.”