more election day photos

my new friend, lydia, who's from d.c., works for an election assistance organization and was out during the nepal's national election. she took these photos, but i thought they do a really good job of showing the process so i wanted to share them with you. remember, there was a transportation ban that day, which allowed only official vehicles on the road...and apparently drive by shooting vehicles, but that's another story. the roads were empty and people were out meandering around. bikes road down the middle without a care in the world. dogs crossed without looking both ways and kids played with their humble toys or rolled tires in the newly opened space. to vote, people put their thumb on an ink pad and literally marked their ballot with thumb prints. i love the photo of the older woman showing her thumb...priceless! two days out and still too early to call, but the maoists are shockingly ahead in the polls. no on predicted as much and now there's a scramble to decide what to do 'if' the unthinkable happens. the official results won't be tallied for a couple weeks, so we once again, wait...nepali's are good at that! : ) bye, love, j