"Enough fear," she said when asked whether she was afraid of terrorist threats. "Let us breathe the air of freedom."
Hassan Ahmad Ali, 54, who retired from the government and is currently working as a salesman for a private company, was standing in line at the gate of the center. "This is the best time of my life," he said.
_____More on Elections_____
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Photo Gallery: The end of Iraq's Election Day brought indications of strong turnout, but also reports of at least 30 people killed.
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Transcript: The Post's Jackie Spinner discussed the scene in Irbil, where elation at electing a new Kurdish parliament has Kurds partying in the streets.
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The director of the polling place, Abdul Sattar Mohammad, a 61-year-old retired teacher, said he "did not expect this large number of voters. We were under the impression that this neighborhood is against elections, but I have seen a large turnout, and a lot of women too."
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Special correspondent Naseer Nouri in Baghdad: After the polls closed today, Um Rami, 56, a Christian, served orange juice to a group of women and children outside her house in the Iraqi capital. "My sisters, did you have the same feeling I had? I felt as if it was Eid," she said, referring to Eid al-Adha, a four-day Muslim holiday.
"Every one at the poll center was happy . . . ," she continued. "We proved to the world and to the insurgents that no one is supporting them. We win and they lost. They did not think that all of us will gather together for the best of our country. They did not scare any one of us."
Rami's view was shared by many others who defied threats of violence to vote in the capital and across the country.
Hikmat Ani, 46, a retiree, said today's scattered violence showed "how much those terrorist hate the Iraqis. They were trying to kill us just because we want to do the thing we like to do."
Suha Ali, 24, a graduate student who is looking for a job, said today's turnout made her proud.
"I am so happy that I lived to see this day," she said. "The Iraqis proved to the world that nothing can scare them. . . . I wish that from now on we will live just like any other democratic country."
Saad Dulaimi, 38, a school teacher and a Sunni, said he originally did not plan to vote. "I just thought that no one deserve my voice," he said. "But when I saw all the Iraqis are voting, I told myself that I will give my voice to Iraq, not to a person. I have the right to vote so why should I not use this right."
Dulaimi said voting was a moving experience. "You cannot imagine how proud I was there when I saw that big Iraqi flag over the ballot box," he said. "My eyes were full with tears when I was looking at the flag, while I was putting the ballot in the box, when one of my teardrops went inside with that ballot through the opening of that box."
