00:00American election fever in the United Arab Emirates is stirring U.S. expats to cast absentee
00:09ballots from abroad ahead of the November 8th polling day, and the American Business
00:13Council of Dubai and the Northern Emirates has set up an absentee voter center to help
00:17facilitate the expected demand.
00:20Hype around the voting this year for the general election is unprecedented. The two candidates
00:26that are involved with the general election, well, the front-running candidates because
00:32there's actually more than two, the hype is unprecedented and we expect to have voters
00:40turning out to vote in unprecedented numbers, more so than any other election year to our
00:47knowledge.
00:48An absentee registration form needs to be filled out this year. If one had been filled
00:55out in previous years, it's not acceptable, so a new one needs to be filled out in 2016.
01:02The absentee ballot is sent to the individual, and once it's received, it can be filled
01:08out and then submitted into either our office or the consulate or embassy.
01:14There's interest to learn more about candidates. There's interest to learn more about the process
01:19and the procedure for voting. I think the candidates that we have have been a catalyst
01:27for first-time voters to get involved with the process.
01:32We strongly encourage people to get out to vote. We obviously don't take a position either
01:38way. We're very much bipartisan, but we do encourage the voters to take part in the process
01:44to be a part of the general election.
01:47The Council Voters' Center is located in its Dubai headquarters at Emirate Atrium Building
01:52to help guide American citizens through the process of voting while living abroad.
01:57Logan Fish for Gulf News.
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