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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2005 
Postal Service Seen As Unreliable
 Wire services
| | Both the United States and Mexican Postal Services continue their celebration of fine arts with a Frida Kahlo stamp. |
Millions of Mexicans living and working in the United States will be allowed to vote by absentee ballot in the 2006 presidential election, a voting block so large it could dramatically change the race provided the votes don't get lost in the mail.
The Mexican Postal Service has struggled for so long with a reputation for lost or stolen mail that officials are considering entirely bypassing the Mexican mail, perhaps by having migrants mail their ballots to a U.S. post office box address, and then transporting them in bulk back to Mexico.
In Mexico, mail so frequently arrives late, tampered with, or not at all that many people here either use more expensive express delivery services or have given up on the mail altogether. Simply finding someone who knows where the nearest post office is has become a challenge in sprawling Mexico City.
Mexico's Congress approved the mail-in ballots in June, despite concerns voiced by all major parties about the Mexican Postal Service, known as Sepomex.
"We know Sepomex is rife with deficiencies, that its delivery times and its handling of correspondence as compared to that of other countries is excessive and that losing mail is the norm," said Jesús González, a lawmaker from the Convergence Party.
Underpaid letter carriers, mail theft and antiquated facilities and procedures all plague the post office here.
In May, Gonzalo Alarcón, director of the Mexican Postal Service, told Congress that the mail system "could not guarantee voter secrecy" and that "we'd have limitations handling additional volumes that require special treatment, as the electoral project will require." Despite lingering doubts, officials from the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) maintain they can make voting abroad work, even if it means setting up mail-in ballot reception centers in the United States.
"We are going to set up mechanisms that will be exceedingly safe, because it would be very grave if during the first vote from abroad we had some logistical mishap," Rodrigo Morales, one of the electoral institute officials organizing the absentee voting system, said in an interview.
The institute has not yet decided on a final plan, but Morales said officials would reach out to migrant communities in the United States to ensure voting goes smoothly.
There are some bright spots, however. The plan approved by Congress calls for ballots to be sent out by certified mail, which contains a serial number that helps guarantee it reaches its destination.
Communications and Transportation Secretary Pedro Cerisola said that, unlike regular mail, more than 99.9 percent of Mexico's national and international certified parcels reach their destinations.
An estimated 11 million Mexicans live abroad, nearly all of them in the United States. Expatriates are legally allowed to vote and hold dual citizenship, but have been effectively barred from participating in elections because of the lack of an absentee ballot system. |
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