Around the world Latvian citizens are going to the polls Feb. 18 to cast a simple ballot in one of the most emotional issues in the country’s brief history as an independent state.

Voters are casting ballots in a national referendum to decide whether Russian should be given equal status in the constitution to Latvian as an official language. While many observers have predicted voters will turn down the proposal, the margin of defeat will be closely watched.

Outside the homeland, Latvian citizens are voting at one of 85 polling stations in 41 countries. The first to vote were Latvians in eastern Australia, followed by western Australia, Japan and China. Polls there are closed, while those in North and South America are halfway through their day.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time.

An estimated 54,554 eligible voters are found outside the homeland, according to the Central Election Commission in Rīga.

As final preparations for balloting in the United States were being made Feb. 17, Raits Eglītis, office manager for the Rockville, Md.-based American Latvian Association (Amerikas latviešu apvienība, or ALA), said the organization has worked to keep 15 polling stations designated across the United States. Turnout in the United States could be substantial compared to previous votes, Eglītis suggested.

The ALA also departed from its usual neutral stance on political issues.

“This time ALA also has taken a position to vote against (the referendum),” Eglītis said. The organization sent a notice to its members urging them to be active in the referendum and to defend Latvian as the sole official language.

In New York, Normans Penke, Latvia’s ambassador to the United Nations and a member of the local election commission, noted that 350 ballots had been ordered for the voting that will take place in the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Latvia to the United Nations. If more are needed, they will be provided, Penke added.

By 8 p.m. in Latvia, according to the Central Election Commission, a total of 981,858 people—more than 63 percent of all eligible voters—had cast ballots.

The total included 6,274 who by 4 p.m. had cast ballots at 31 of the 85 polling stations abroad. That’s nearly 83 percent of the total in last year’s referendum on dissolving the Saeima, when 7,547 votes were cast abroad.

President Andris Bērziņš, on a state visit to Poland, voted in the Latvian Embassy in Warsaw, according to his press office.

A full list of polling stations abroad is available from the Central Election Commission’s website, www.cvk.lv.

The hot-button language referendum scheduled Feb. 18 apparently has lots of voters abroad interested in letting their voice be heard, if figures from absentee ballot requests are any indication.

A total of 1,226 Latvian citizens have applied for mail ballots, according to figures compiled by the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and released Feb. 8 by the Central Election Commission in Rīga. That’s more than five times the number who applied for absentee ballots for last year’s referendum on dissolving the 10th Saeima.

Just 232 applications for mail ballots were received for last year’s referendum, commission spokesperson Kristīne Bērziņa told Latvians Online in an email.

The Feb. 18 referendum will decide whether the Latvian constitution should be amended to give Russian equal status as an official language.

Voters had until Feb. 4 to file applications at one of 21 Latvian embassies or consulates around the world. Mail ballots will be sent this week.

The United States, with 279 applications for mail ballots, leads the way, according to the data.

Germany, with 261 applications, is second, followed by the United Kingdom with 210.

Here’s the complete list of how many absentee ballot applications were received in the 21 embassies or consulates:

• United States, 279
• Germany, 261
• United Kingdom, 210
• Norway, 168
• Canada, 65
• Ireland, 54
• Sweden, 41
• Australia, 36
• Belgium, 31
• Poland, 27
• Brazil, 16
• Greece, 15
• Lithuania, 7
• Portugal, 6
• Denmark, 5
• China, 3
• Chile and Estonia, 1 each
• Israel, Russia and Uzbekistan received no applications

Political observers in Latvia have said the referendum has little chance of being approved. At least half of the more than 1.5 million eligible voters would have to vote for the amendments for them to become part of the constitution. However, the run-up to the referendum has sharpened discord between ethnic Latvians and Russian speakers in the country, according to various reports.

Voters abroad will be able to participate in the referendum on Feb. 18 at 85 polling stations in 41 countries. A full list of polling stations abroad is available from the Central Election Commission’s website, www.cvk.lv.

Latvian State Television (Latvijas Televīzija, or LTV) is testing a new channel aimed at Latvians abroad, the head of the service told a radio audience on Jan. 2.

Appearing on Latvian Radio’s “Krustpunktā” program, LTV Director General Edgars Kots said the new channel will be a subscription service available for viewing over the Internet.

The new LTV3 is being created in cooperation with the telecommunications company Lattelecom and could become available in two to three months, Kots told the radio audience. LTV3 will run 24 hours a day, repeating a block of programming.

LTV currently has two over-the-air national channels, LTV1 and LTV7, that can be seen in Latvia. LTV is the main channel and carries national cultural and news programming. LTV7 focuses on sports and feature films.

Several of LTV’s homegrown shows are available either live or in archived versions via the Internet, for example, the cultural program “100g kultūras” or the nightly news “Panorāma” program. However, because of licensing and copyright agreements, a number of programs are not available, including sports programming and even LTV’s new soap opera, “Eņģelu māja.”

Within Latvia both channels can be seen by live through Lattelecom.

LTV’s main competitors are Latvian Independent Television (Latvijas Neatkarīgā televīzija, or LNT) and TV3.

LNT makes some of its material available to Internet audience at www.lnt.lv/lv/video, but also restricts access to some shows, such as its own new soap opera, “Tikai nesaki man Bizu.”

TV3 provides its Internet audience with access to shows at www.tv3play.lv, but those can only be viewed on computers with IP addresses within Latvia.

Kots also told the “Krustpunktā” audience that state television’s news website ltvzinas.lv will be improved in the months to come.