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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2005 
Mexican Citizens Can Now Register in US to Vote by Mail
 Wire services
| | Mexico's left-wing Democratic Revolutionary Party named as its candidate for next year's presidential election Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the opinion poll front-runner.(AFP/File/Juan Barreto) |
Starting Saturday, Mexican citizens are given a chance to register in the United States to vote by mail in Mexico's presidential election next year.
"We never had a voice here before and now we do. We are telling people that now is the time to register," Jorge Arturo Garcia, head of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional in California, told the Daily News.
PRI, the dominant political party in Mexico until President Vicente Fox was elected in 2000, has been working to turn out large numbers of voters in this country. An estimated 11 million Mexicans in the United States could cast ballots in next year's election, the Daily News reported.
The Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, 2401 W. Sixth St., is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.
An estimated 4 million Mexican nationals who already have voter credentials issued in Mexico can register either online or at consulates until Jan. 15. Mexican nationals with a voting credential also can register online at www.ife.org.mx.
The Federal Election Institute of Mexico is sending ballots between April 15 and May 20. To be counted, votes must be received by July 1.
Political Groups Beginning Efforts for Mexican Vote
Rachel Uranga - dailynews.com
Mexican consulates across the United States are expecting hundreds of nationals to turn up this weekend to register to vote for next year's Mexican presidential elections.
This is the first time the estimated 11 million Mexicans living in the United States will be given the opportunity to vote by mail. Already, Mexican political parties are readying to set up shop in offices across the Southland in a bid to register voters.
"We never had a voice here before, and now we do. We are telling people that now is the time to register," said Jorge Arturo Garcia, president of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional in California, one of several groups that have been strategizing on how to turn out large numbers of voters.
An estimated 4 million Mexican nationals who already have voter credentials issued in Mexico can register either online or at the consulate until Jan. 15.
But some have criticized the process for excluding millions more Mexicans unable to obtain the credential, which is issued only to those in Mexico.
"I am so bothered by this. The government has made it very complicated for many of us," said Gloria Saucedo, director of Hermandad Mexicana in Panorama City.
A dual citizen, Saucedo said it would be easier to simply go across the border to Tijuana to vote than to wait for a ballot. The Federal Election Institute of Mexico is sending ballots between April 15 and May 20. To be counted, votes must be received by July 1.
In anticipation of this first step in a voting process that experts say could reshape the face of Mexico and its politics, the Mexican consulate will stay open all day today.
And they are not the only ones gearing up.
For the past several weeks, Garcia's group and other parties have been meeting with hometown groups that organize to send money back to their states to try to rally them to vote. |
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