Americans in NZ urged to vote in presidential election

5.00pm - By JONATHAN MILNE

It's not like casting a vote on the day at one of Florida's controversial chad machines, but Americans in New Zealand are flocking to be counted in next month's whisker-tight presidential race.

With an estimated 15,000 Americans living here, Democrats Abroad international chair Rachelle Jailer Valladares has travelled from London to get her fellow citizens out to vote.

Fresh off the plane in Auckland, she told the Herald on Sunday votes from the seven million Americans living abroad could be critical in deciding whether Democrat challenger John Kerry knocked President George W Bush out of the White House on November 2.

"Americans seem to be flocking down here," she said. "Their vote is absolutely vital. This is going to be one of the tightest elections we have ever seen.

"We saw what happened in Florida last time. This time there are a lot of battleground states that are running neck and neck."

She had mailed her own District of Columbia ballot paper from Changi Airport in Singapore the previous night.

"I shouldn't have any finger-nails left at all. It's a nail-biter - they are running neck and neck. I hope it's not like four years ago when the count goes on for weeks but it will certainly go all night.

"Senator Kerry is known for being a very strong finisher," she said. "Bush comes over as being homey, hokey, the guy next door. But he's not stupid: he's actually quite shrewd but just not particularly polished."

Wellington-based New Yorker Sophie Richardson, a human rights worker, mailed her ballot paper on Friday, with a tick next to the name John Kerry.

"The Florida race got decided by 537 votes last time. Now there are 537 Americans in the central business district of Wellington alone, let alone the rest of New Zealand," she said.

"It's especially important for Americans overseas, who I think live daily the consequences of what the Bush administration has done for America's profile over the world. New Zealand is one of the most incredibly hospitable places in the world, yet the amount of crap I get ..."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY