For the first time in Dominican politics, absentee ballots were cast in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Spain. According to reports in the Listin Diario, voting in New York City was massive at the 16 polling stations in that city. According to Jose Fernandez, the president of the Electoral Board in New York, ?Everything went normal, without incident and with a large turnout.? Reporter Ruth E. Hernandez, working for the EFE agency, got the same answer as she asked voters at different voting stations in Upper Manhattan. At PS 128 in Upper Manhattan, there were seven voting booths where 3,200 Dominican were scheduled to vote. The total voting population recruited by the JCE in New York City, Yonkers, Long Island and Connecticut totaled 24,333, about one-fourth of the 110,000 estimated to be eligible to vote. All Dominicans born in the Dominican Republic are eligible to vote in Dominican elections, even if they have taken United States citizenship. One of the few problems encountered was the fact that all 600 voters registered to vote at polling station number 11 showed up at the same time. Carlos Rosario stood in line for an hour, and he felt it was lack of organization. Nonetheless, like all Dominicans, he was very happy to be able to vote without having to travel back to the Dominican Republic to cast his ballot. In the three voting centers in the Bronx, more than half of the people had voted by two o?clock in the afternoon. In Madrid, Spain, the reports were similar. Santa Altagracia Sanpablo Urbaez traveled 400 kilometers to vote. She was one of the 8,953 people canvassed and entered into the voting rolls in Spain. She lives in the city of Murcia and got up very early in the dawn of the 16th to reach Madrid and cast her ballot. However, like two others of her group of 15 people that made the trip, she was not allowed to vote because she did not have her new Voter Registration Card. In spite of her many pleas and other documents, the answer was negative. Voting returns from Spain favored the PLD party by a four-to-one margin.