At the link, Cesar Munoz watched Iraqi voters stream into the Baghdad polling place from early morning until the evening. At times the line stretched for blocks. Armed soldiers such as Munoz secured the building, and others surrounded the perimeter. About two thirds of eligible voters turned out in March 2010 to elect a new Parliament, despite bombs exploding in parts of the country in insurgent efforts to keep the electorate from the polls. “You could see democracy at its best,” said Munoz, 57, a Kenner resident and Army reservist who was part of the U.S. military contingent that helped Iraqi forces conduct the elections last year. Munoz has a special perspective on elections, because in addition to his work overseas he also has been an elections commissioner in Kenner for about seven years. Stateside, he helps voters check in on election day. In Iraq he watched voters triumphantly display inked fingers to prove they had voted. He talked with Iraqis in the months following the election to gauge their reactions. They had been nervous, he said, but excited to vote, some for the first time. “To me it was a joyous event because I saw people doing what they had always wanted to do,” he said. Here, voters don’t go to the polls under protection of soldiers holding machine guns. But having seen it both ways, Munoz said he is disappointed in the sometimes paltry turnout back home. “The big difference is that I find here in the United States, we take everything for granted,” he said. “We are great at criticizing and finding the faults in people but aren’t great at doing something about it by going to vote.”