A Dublin pub will be turned into an impromptu voting centre this week when US Democrats living in Ireland ballot for the party's presidential nominee.
With election fever sweeping across the US for "Super Tuesday" on February 5th, when more than 20 states will hold contests, Democrats Abroad Ireland will cast their votes on the same day in O'Neill's Pub on Suffolk Street, as part of the Democratic Global Primary.
Chair Kate Fitzgerald said that more than 300 registered Democrats live in Ireland and they are expecting people from as far as Cork and Kerry to travel to the capital.
"Just as the primary season back home gets into full swing, Democrats living overseas will be choosing their candidate too," she said.
"We're holding it in O'Neill's because we hold our meetings there, but also because we wanted to hold relatively long hours so people could make it during work or after work.
"So really the only place to do it is a pub, or a hotel, and hotels are expensive, so they have been very good to us," she said. The Democrats Abroad Global Primary runs from February 5th to 12th in more than 30 countries around the world. Voting can take place by fax, post, in voting centres or online.
"If you want to vote in person, it's just paper ballots," said Ms Fitzgerald. "They're not secret ballots because that's just one of the by-laws of Democrats Abroad."
The campaign to secure the Democratic Presidential nomination has made headlines across the world, with the two main front runners Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battling it out in a close-knit contest.
The backing of Mr Obama by Senator Ted Kennedy and JFK's daughter Caroline last week was a major boost for the young Illinois hopeful, but with Mrs Clinton the favourite to win in many of the big states voting on Super Tuesday, the race is far from over.
Dublin-based Democrat Steve Bryant has been rallying fellow Americans in Ireland to back Obama, inspired by his passion to transform the American political scene.
A Florida native and IT consultant by profession, he has been living in Ireland for the last eight years. Does he feel Obama has what it takes to secure the party's nomination? "It's tough to say, it really is. "If you had asked me that a year ago, I would have said no.
"But it looks more and more possible each day. "It's going to be tight between Obama and Clinton, and it may be one of these things where they end up going in together," he said. Voting begins in a side room in O'Neill's at 10am on Tuesday and runs until 9pm.
Following the outcome of the Democratic Global Primary, country committee members will attend a pan-European convention in Brussels on March 15th to choose delegates for the Democrats Abroad global convention in Vancouver from April 12th-13th. There delegates will be selected to represent Democrats Abroad at the party's national convention in Denver, Colorado from August 25th-28th, during which its 2008 Presidential nominee will be officially announced.