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Americans Abroad Travel: Election Day in Argentina

Where: Av. Colombia 4300, Buenos Aires, Argentina
October 8, 2008 at 1:45 PM | by | Comments (2)

Jaunted editor Paul Brady has been hiding out in Buenos Aires and won't be back to vote in the US on November 4. Instead of just mailing in an absentee ballot, he went to the embassy for today's Voting Party...

This city is all about standing around waiting for stuff. There are lines at the bakery, lines outside the bank to use the ATM, lines at the post office, lines like you could never imagine at bus stops. So I shouldn't have been surprised when I showed up for today's democracy fest at the US embassy and there was a queue of Americans stretching way down Avenida Colombia.

At least those of us waiting to get in could enjoy the tunes from the jazz combo that Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne hired to play in the courtyard while we made small talk about our hometowns, our impressions of Argentina and why in God's name this was taking so long.

Once I finally got inside, I had to leave my digital camera at the security checkpoint; no photos inside the embassy! Frustrated, but happy to finally be in, I headed toward the jazz--only to find another lengthy line of increasingly impatient would-be voters in the courtyard. I'd guess there were a couple hundred people milling around. But at least inside the walls of the compound, they were serving free Starbucks coffee. (Hey, it's not my favorite, but the price was right!)

I queued up again, this time waiting to get a write-in ballot. Once I finally got inside the embassy building, I grabbed the necessary forms and, as they say, voted my ballot. All I needed was an envelope and I could stuff my form into a big blue box to have it shipped via diplomatic courier back to the US. Except, obviously, they were out of envelopes.

This gave me the chance to chat with more Americans, some of whom I'd met previously at debate watch parties in town. I grabbed another drink and paced around a bit before going back inside to hunt down an envelope. Finally, about an hour later, I had one.

I jammed my paperwork inside and dropped my envelope in the ballot box. I even got the cute "I Voted Absentee" sticker in the photo above. But the best moment of the party? There was no line to get my camera back from the security guards on the way out.

Related Stories:
· Buenos Aires coverage [Jaunted]

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Hmmm.

I wonder who was the lucky candidate...

Good For You.. Rockin' the Vote Abroad

Is Argentina a swing state?

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