COLOMBIANS LIVING IN U.S. CAST BALLOTS IN ELECTIONS ABROAD

They drove for miles Sunday -- from Rock Hill and Winston-Salem and
Wilmington -- to an elementary school in Charlotte to do what so many of us
take for granted.

They came to vote.

For the first time in their history, citizens of the South American country
of Colombia who live abroad elected a member of congress to represent the 7
million Colombians who have left a nation now struggling with civil war, a
souring economy and frequent kidnappings for ransom.

Among those are more than 7,000 Colombians and Colombian Americans living
in the Carolinas.

They were the ones pulling into the parking lot of Collinswood Elementary
School, walking past vendors selling tamales and Colombian soft drinks and
presenting their cedulas -- national identification cards -- in exchange
for ballots.

They voted, in private, in two handmade cardboard booths wrapped in the
yellow, blue and red stripes of the Colombian flag and furnished with
school desks.

In the past, Colombians living abroad could vote only for president. And
those living in the Carolinas had to find their way to the closest
consulate, in Atlanta.

This year, in addition to voting for members of congress, they were given
permission to vote in Charlotte because of their increasing numbers. Latino
leaders consider Colombians to be one of the fastest-growing immigrant
groups in Charlotte.

After eight hours of accepting ballots, the polling place closed at 4 p.m.,
with about 28 percent of the 460 or so registered Colombians from the
Carolinas voting.

"This is becoming very important to Colombians abroad because of the
difficult situation the country is going through," said Dan Ramirez, an
election overseer who is also running for the Mecklenburg Board of County
Commissioners.

"So many Colombians voted with their feet -- they left. They were tired of
the violence. And now we're realizing we can't turn our backs on our
country. We have to do something."

That's why they'll be back on May 26, to vote for a new presidente;
officials expect a 95 percent turnout.

They can choose from six candidates, one of whom has been kidnapped and is
being held for ransom.

"The best way to counteract terrorism," Ramirez says, "is to implement a
true democracy. Right now what we have is a remnant of the old dictatorial
regime."