In Controversial Ballot, Crimeans Vote to Join Russia

Election authorities in the breakaway Ukraine region of Crimea say 95 percent of voters support secession and a move to join Russia. The data was announced late Sunday with half of the referendum ballots counted. Voter turnout was placed at between 75 and 80 percent. The choice had been to break away from Russia immediately, or revert to Crimea’s status under a 1992 constitution that would make it easy to come under Moscow’s rule in the future. The vote has been denounced by the Ukrainian government and its backers in the West as illegal and a violation of territorial integrity. But as VOA’s Elizabeth Arrott reports from Simferopol, many Crimeans Sunday said they were happy to cast their votes in favor of Moscow.