After delivering his envelope with his vote for Mexico’s presidential election at the parcel service, Pedro Rodríguez, a Mexican immigrant from Sonora, Mexico who lives in the city of Hawthorne in Los Angeles County, was delighted.
“I have been living in the United States for 28 years and this is the first time I voted for president. I did it motivated by my family in Sonora, who asked me not to stop voting, and so I did.”
Pedro, who makes a living working as a chicken fryer in a well-known restaurant in Los Angeles, says that the process of voting from abroad by mail was not easy, but it was not difficult either.
“I feel like a member of society who has been taken into account.”
Pedro is one of the thousands of Mexicans abroad who chose to vote by mail in the Mexican presidential elections that will be held on June 2.
“I even made a video, where I announced that I voted for Claudia Sheinbaum for president and Lorenia Valles for senator because I have every confidence that they will do a great role and I wish them the best of luck.”
For the first time since Mexicans abroad can vote in a presidential election, they will have three voting options: by post, online and in person at the Mexican consulates.
Lupita Soler, a millennial, who lives in Los Angeles, California chose to vote online.
“It was quick, and I like it better that way because I was left with online proof that I already voted.”
Those who registered to vote online have until 6 pm Mexico time on Sunday, June 2 to cast their vote electronically.
To vote in person, they will have to go to some of the 23 Mexican consulates in the world authorized to vote.
Those who live in Los Angeles will be able to vote at the Consulate General of Mexico from 7 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon.
Other consulates that will offer in-person voting in the United States are: Santa Ana, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San José, Fresno and Sacramento.
In the rest of the country in the consulates of Houston, New York, Oklahoma, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, Seattle and Washington, DC In Canada you can vote in Montreal; and in Europe in Madrid and Paris.
Effervescence for the vote
Juan José Gutiérrez of the Coalition for Full Immigrant Rights, who lives in Los Angeles, says that unlike the presidential elections in which Mexicans abroad have been able to vote in 2006, 2012 and 2018, he observes a great effervescence.
“It is very significant that with so much lock that the National Electoral Institute (INE) has placed on us, people have registered to vote in significant numbers, which means that the 4-T has already caught on in the United States.”
He is confident that at least 70% of those who registered to vote will actually do so and surpass the number of voters in the last election in which Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected president.
“It is estimated that we could be a quarter of a million, but I hope that at least 180,000 Mexicans abroad vote.”
Urgent call to vote
Maribel Solache, a vote-promoting activist in San Diego, made an urgent call to Mexicans who chose to vote by mail to send their package with their ballot as soon as possible.
“To those who are going to vote electronically, vote immediately; and if you have problems, call the INE, because if you fail in five attempts, the system will block your vote.”
The envelopes with the votes must arrive in Mexico no later than 8:00 a.m. (Central Mexico time), on June 1, 2024.
The technical secretary of the Federal Voter Registry of the INE, Cuitláhuac Osorio says in an interview with The opinion that of the 223,961 Mexican citizens living abroad who registered to vote, as of Thursday, May 23, 80,678 have already voted, 50,308 online and 30,770 by mail, whose envelopes with the ballots are in warehouses.
“Historically, 60% of registered Mexicans have voted. We hope to have that same participation, but we are also considering that 1,500 ballots have been sent to the Mexican consulates so that people who did not register to vote can vote.”
Secretary Osorio recalls that in the 2018 Mexican presidential election, there was only voting by mail for Mexicans abroad, and then they received 98,708 envelopes with votes.
“For this 2024 election, of the 223,961 registered to vote. 67.86% chose to vote online; 25.12% the postal vote; and in person, 7.02%”
He comments that in addition to the 223,961, in each consulate 1,500 unregistered people will be able to vote, which gives 34,500 more.
“Any person with a valid INE credential, residing in Mexico or abroad, will be able to vote.”
It specifies that the INE will send 118 people to work on the voting modules that will be placed in the Mexican consulates on June 2.
“The highest authority in each module will be the president; and there will be one secretary for every 1,000 voters.”
He clarifies that these people are not INE officials, but they were unsanctioned and drawn by lot.
“Even though the modality in the consulates is in person, the people who chose this option will vote on an electronic device.”
Therefore, it specifies that the INE staff will fulfill two functions: install and guarantee that all the technological equipment works and help with the voting flow.
“The INE will send three officials to each consulate and will be complemented with support staff, students abroad who will be obtained through agreements with universities, in addition we will have representatives of political parties, foreign visitors and electoral observers” .
The main recommendation of the INE official, to Mexicans abroad who are going to vote in person, is that they arrive early so that they do not run the risk of the system being closed..
“Electronic and postal votes will be opened until June 2 in the presence of the political parties.”