FARGO (AP) - Kurdish immigrants from North Dakota traveled to polling places across the country, some driving nearly 12 hours, for a history-making vote for a new Iraq government.

"It was good. Something we all have been waiting for for many years," Nazdar Barwari said after casting her ballot in Skokie, Ill., a Chicago suburb.

Barwari and her husband, Yassin, were among 41 Kurdish immigrants from the Fargo area who drove almost 12 hours to take part in the first democratic election for a permanent Iraqi government since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Skokie was one of seven voting centers in the United States for Iraqi expatriates or descendants.

"Now we are voting and Saddam Hussein and his puppet regime are gone," said Yassin Barwari. "This is significant for development of a democratic system."

The votes will count in the allotment of 45 national seats in Iraq's 275-member parliament.

Voters had to present documents proving they were Iraqi citizens or were eligible for citizenship - at least 18 years old with a father who is a citizen.

Security in Skokie was tight, Barwari said, but the group had to wait only 20 minutes before voting. He was disappointed that members of the group were not allowed to bring a Kurdistan flag into the polling place.

"I don't see any good reason," he said.

West Fargo residents Hussein Weled and his son, Ari, flew to San Diego to vote at the polling center there. Their flights were delayed because of bad weather, but they drove straight to the polling center after landing in the San Diego,

"We made it, thank God," Hussein Weled said.

"It was a duty on my shoulder to do it," he said. "We vote for the martyrs of Kurdistan and for Kurds."

Weled joined the Kurdish revolution in 1974 before come to the United States. He lived in San Diego for a year before moving to the Fargo area.

Barwari and Weled hope for a strong election showing for their favored coalition, the Kurdistani Gathering.

"It's a significant moment," Barwari said. "A historic moment."