Now that the polls in Iraq have closed, we have to be thankful. The amount of violence expected fell short, and at least 24 people have died, as of 6:15 p.m. Sunday.

Although it is terrible that those people were killed or injured for simply casting a vote, the numbers could have been a lot worse. Many more people could have lost their lives for voicing their opinion.

What is surprising, though, is how many people risked their lives to vote. An approximation by the Independent Election Commission of Iraq said 57 percent of Iraqis voted, compared to the 60.7 percent of Americans that voted in the 2004 election according to the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. There are roughly the same amount of people turning out to vote in Iraq as in the U.S.

In our country, we take for granted the privilege we have to go vote. No one has to risk being killed by suicide bombers to go to the polls to cast their vote. We don't need to worry that any ink left on our fingers from voting will mark us as targets for insurgents armed with grenades. In Iraq, those who voted are, in a sense, heroes for being brave enough to vote.

If the same situation occurred here, it seems probable that many Americans would not risk it. The turnout rates would be a lot smaller. When it comes down to it, many Americans would probably choose their lives over risking death to vote.

We can only applaud those Iraqis who went out to vote and remain optimistic that the results of the election can make a difference. Hopefully something good will come out of the loss of those lives and that they will not have died in vain.

Those who voted in Iraq should be respected for their bravery. We also need to be thankful we don't have to live in fear here in the United States and that more people have not lost their lives to practice a freedom we take for granted.