December 15, 2005, 5:29 PM EST
FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Nearly a third of the polling stations in this former insurgent bastion didn't get ballot boxes and there weren't enough ballots, forcing authorities to turn away some Sunni Arabs who joined the rush to vote Thursday.
Similar problems were reported elsewhere in Anbar province, a western region where Sunni insurgents are active. But Fallujah is the most tightly controlled city in the province, firmly in the grip of U.S. and Iraqi authorities.
Fallujah Mayor Dhari al-Arsan estimated in early afternoon that about 45 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots at that point, but he said 11 of the city's 35 polling sites did not receive any ballot boxes and other sites ran out of the paper ballots in the first hours.
He attributed the ballot shortage to the heavy turnout by voters. "Today we are witnessing the biggest democratic process," he said.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iraq-ballot-shortage,0,4959442.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlinesMaybe someone should open up a Kinkos?