Doughnuts and Democrats
Feb 9th, 2008 by Jinja
Let's see, is this the place?
Yep. Doughnut shops are a niche market that Cambodians quickly took to upon arrival in the States. And one Khmer-American entrepeneur has brought it full circle, by establishing USA Donuts in Phnom Penh.
Is this where you sign up? Can I get a ballot and a burrito?
Today USA Donuts was also the polling station for the USA Democratic Primary. With passport in hand, the process was made as simple as possible for anyone who showed up.
Ballots were sorted by volunteers inside the shop, which is stacked to the rafters with all kinds of stateside food items. Mmm.
Complete with 'get out the vote' hip hop (culled from ITunes) it was a surreal experience. There seemed to be as many reporters as voters in the first half hour. I just had to take a peek.
While cameras are usually kept away from voting and polling areas, this isn't the States. Nearly everyone wanted their photo taken, many with the Obama Tuk-Tuk. More of a party than partisan sensibility prevailed though, most looked to be having fun.
I'm not completely clear about the arcana of candidate selection, but apparently Republicans Overseas are doing their primary voting a bit differently. After this little exposition of Americana, might they do the same in the next Presidential election?
More information about voting abroad: www.votefromabroad.org , or hit up your local embassy.
Tags: cambodia,vote,khmer,vote abroad,democrats abroad,presidential primary 
