Iraqis won’t vote in Newport Beach

Security concerns prompt hotel to bow out as polling place for Iraq parliament election this week.Responding to police concerns about security and parking, officials from a Newport Beach hotel decided not to allow the hotel to be used as a polling place for Iraq’s parliamentary elections this week, police said.

Organizers of the Iraqi elections were planning to have a polling station at the Radisson Hotel Newport Beach on MacArthur Boulevard today through Thursday, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Bill Hartford.

When police first learned the hotel might serve as a polling station, they met with hotel staff to discuss security and parking problems that might arise, Hartford said.

Police told the hotel’s general manager that hosting the polling station would require a “substantial deployment” of police resources, Hartford said.

Between 1,500 and 3,000 people were expected to visit the polling station each day of the three-day polling period, Hartford said.

The hotel made the decision not to host the event.

“We never said to the hotel that you couldn’t have it. We don’t have any authority or legal standing to do so,” Hartford said.

The proposed polling station at the Radisson was one of three out-of-country polling stations in California. Instead of Newport Beach, the area polling station will be at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, according to the website of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.

-- Lauren Vane