Pat Dollard | Young Americans

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Democrats living overseas became the first to vote in the Super Tuesday primaries, casting ballots at the stroke of midnight in predominately Muslim Indonesia, where Sen. Barack Obama lived as a child.

The Americans who wanted to vote for Democrats lined up in hotels and coffee shops or—for the first time ever—cast ballots online.

Americans in more than 30 Asian nations will line up in the next week to vote for their nominee in the 2008 U.S. presidential race, casting ballots at a hotel in Australia, a pub in Ireland and a Starbucks in Thailand, according to Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party representing expatriates.

Some 6 million Americans living abroad are eligible to vote in U.S. elections, but only a fraction have done so in the past.

Republicans Abroad has operated independently of the Republican Party since 2003, and therefore cannot hold in-person or Internet votes overseas. But it is organizing to get more expatriate Republicans registered back home in time to receive their ballots overseas and cast them in primaries later this year.

The only option for Democrats until recently was for Americans living abroad to mail absentee ballot request forms to their last U.S. county of residence, then wait in hopes that shaky mail systems would deliver the ballots in time to vote.

Now the expatriate Democrats will be treated like a 51st state, giving them a greater voice.

The Democratic National Convention in August will include 22 delegates from overseas. Under party rules, delegates get half a vote each at the convention for a total of 11. That’s more than U.S. territories get, but fewer than the least populous states, Wyoming and Alaska, which get 18 delegate votes each.

Melissa Howell-Alipalo, a longtime resident in the Philippines, was among those voting online.

It was simple, she said. “I registered with Democrats Abroad, I was approved, received my ballot number and a pin code in an e-mail. I clicked on the hyperlink, entered my ballot number, address and birth date.”

Then presto, Howell-Alipalo said, she voted.

Hundreds of Democrats are registered in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim nation of 235 million.

Obama lived with his mother in Indonesia from the age of 6 until 10, growing up with exotic pets, like his monkey Tata, and tasting rare delicacies, from snake meat to grasshoppers.

“There is a bit of rooting for the hometown boy,” said Tristram Perry, the public diplomacy officer at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, as more than 100 voters began gathering at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in the bustling capital.

“It is the first time someone who grew up in Indonesia is running for president,” he said.

An early tally at the hotel gave Obama a resounding 75 percent of the votes to 25 percent for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

A Democratic voter in Jakarta indicated that America needed to restore its reputation across the globe.

“Living overseas, I think that’s the most important thing,” said Peter Gardiner as he waited in line with his family. “We’ve had eight years of an administration that is basically destroyed America’s image.”

His 22-year-old son, Conrad, said he was “voting for Obama because of his Indonesian background. That will make him stronger in international affairs.”

Ari Bassin, 31, disagreed, saying he supported Clinton. A New York native, Bassin said Clinton “brings heft to the table and has respect from around the world that, at this point, I’m not sure Obama has.”