Iran to the Polls

I got an interesting email from my sister this morning. I'll let it speak for itself:

Here we are in Virginia, a politically-conscious swing state which has been somewhat desperately courted in the last month. Leesburg, VA first had Obama come to speak, and today Palin will speak. We are a hot-spot, and we are important. Like my other home state Florida, where I did grad school and where my parents now live, there have been cases reported in which volunteers have reportedly deliberately delayed lines or ballots have defaulted to the McCain-Palin ticket. Hearsay?
Maria is originally from the Middle East. She is a citizen and has followed the election issues closely. This weekend, she decided to vote early to beat Nov. 4th crowds. With a line of approximately 35 people in front of her, it took Maria more than an hour and a half to finally get into a voting booth. It wasn't because the voters themselves were suspicious or without proper voting ID...I mean how time-consuming is it to show ID and cast your ballet? No, first there were "technical difficulties" with the computers. When she finally reached the front of the line, she said that after selecting each of her voting options, it took upwards of 3 minutes to move to the next ballot item.
80% of the people turning out to vote early are democrats. In fact, fully 1/3 of all the Democrats expected to vote are voting early this year. When people wait in long lines to vote, the "opportunity cost" of voting increases, making many people who cannot afford to wait so long go home or decide not to vote altogether.
Maria remarked, "It is easier to vote in Iran."