Democrats living in Ireland queued in a Dublin pub yesterday to cast their votes in the Super Tuesday primaries.
Volunteers festooned the oak-panelled lounge of O'Neill's on Suffolk street with balloons, bunting and more than one Stars and Stripes to help transform the pub into a polling station for a day. Posters and banners for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fought for attention next to sketched portraits of WB Yeats and Flann O'Brien.
It was one of many makeshift polling stations worldwide. Democrats in more than 30 countries outside the US will vote all this week for their nominee in the presidential race, casting ballots in the most unlikely places including a hotel in Australia and a Starbucks in Thailand. Many others will take advantage of online voting, introduced for the first time this year.
Democrats Abroad, the wing of the party representing expatriates, describes the Global Democratic Primary as working like a 51st state, with the party's overseas membership sending 22 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
The Irish chapter of Democrats Abroad has close to 400 members registered here. Among the voters squeezed into O'Neill's yesterday were many returned Irish emigrants who had taken citizenship during their time in the US.
Kate Fitzgerald, chair of Democrats Abroad Ireland, said there was huge interest in the Dublin primary poll. "People were queuing outside before polling opened at 10 this morning and we've seen a steady stream of people all day. We're expecting a last-minute rush before polling closes at 10pm."
Her father Tom voted for Hillary Clinton. "She has a better shot at beating whoever the Republicans put forward," he said.
Frank McCarthy, who lived in Boston for 12 years before returning to Ireland a year ago, gave Barack Obama his vote. "America badly needs this guy. It's a shame to see how the country has become so divided. He is the only candidate that can do something about it."
Lorcan Kelleher, a Leaving Certificate student at St Conleth's College in Ballsbridge, will be voting for the first time. "Generally I would call myself a Republican but I like Obama's message of hope and change," he said. "He seems more in touch than the others." Volunteer Kevin Lyda, whose mother is from Longford, grew up in both Kansas and New York before emigrating to Ireland in 1998. He voted for Obama. "When my mom first heard Barack Obama speak, she said it was just like listening to JFK. He's an inspiration."