Escalating protests in Iran amid accusations of voter fraud in last week’s presidential election are reverberating half a world away in central Virginia. Several natives of Iran now living in Virginia are keeping a close eye on the aftermath of Friday’s disputed election, in which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in a landslide.

Leigh Purdum refused to cover her John McCain T-shirt Nov. 4 at the Brightwood precinct in Madison County. On Dec. 1, warrant in hand, she turned herself in for arrest. The American Civil Liberties Union believes Purdum is the only person arrested as a result of a Virginia State Board of Elections ruling in October that banned political clothing at polling locations.