For those of you have have read my report on the Iranian polling station in Tucson, you may be pleased to know that the Washington Times, in an article entitled “Iran’s sham election — on U.S soil,” has picked up my experience as well as that of Will Franklin’s down in Houston and will be investigating further.

But the dissidents have their own informal intelligence networks that gather information about where the voting will take place, a fact that displeases the regime and its supporters. On Friday, a clash occurred at one of the polling places, located at the Commerce Hotel in Los Angeles, between security guards working for the Iranian government and anti-regime activists. Aryo Pirouznia, coordinator for the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran, tells us he was attacked, sprayed with pepper gas and sent to the hospital by the guards. In Tucson, Ariz., freelance journalist Robert Mayer visited a site at a local school for the visually impaired, where voting officials prepared to count the ballots, phone the results in to Tehran and mail the votes to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. Mr. Mayer interviewed the poll monitor, a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona, who treated him to a bizarre lecture explaining how Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are CIA agents. In Houston, Will Franklin, who blogs on the site WILLisms, posted photos showing how he was nearly arrested by the Houston Police Department when he attempted to write a story and take pictures of the polling place.

If the voting is being run by Iranian government agents, it may be unlawful. Federal authorities would do well to take action to prevent a repetition tomorrow.

I’m extremely glad that this story has been picked up by a media goliath that can expose the public to what happened. My hat’s off to them. I can’t wait to see what the result of this will be. I’m sure that federal authorities must be looking into it now.