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 Editorials | At Issue | July 2006 
U.S. Mexicans Faced Problems Voting in Tijuana
 Luis Alonso Pérez - La Prensa San Diego
| | The severe shortage of ballots and overall slowness of the voting process caused frustration and discontent among Mexicans living in the United States who crossed the border last weekend to vote in one of 18 special voting centers in Tijuana. |
The severe shortage of ballots and overall slowness of the voting process caused frustration and discontent among Mexicans living in the United States who crossed the border last weekend to vote in one of 18 special voting centers in Tijuana.
By early Sunday morning, long lines of 300 or more people had formed outside voting centers designated for people living abroad. Some voting places opened an hour late, angering voters who had arrived on time.
Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) had designated 20,000 ballots to be used by Mexicans living abroad. But this number was dwarfed by the number of people who wanted to vote. Some polling places, including Tijuana’s international airport ran out of ballots around noon.
One Mexican citizen who wished to remain unnamed traveled to Tijuana from Tracy, California to vote for his next president. He left his home on Saturday, spent the night in San Diego and crossed the border early Sunday morning. The trip cost him about 300 dollars.
By 3:00 p.m. he had been waiting in line for three hours. He had arrived at the polling place downtown earlier that day, but they sent him to a polling place in Playas because they were about to run out of ballots. Judging by his place in line, he said he would be waiting for at least another hour. This was his first presidential election and despite the long wait, he said he wanted to help decide the future of his county.
By 5:00 p.m. the ballots in Playas were gone, but the line was still very long. Citizens waited under the blazing sun holding red tickets that they would exchange for voting ballot when they got to the front of the line.
Those who could not vote in Playas went to the neighboring Colonia Soler. There José Hernández Cárdenas, from National City, had been waiting for hours. He recalled the last presidential election when he lived and voted in Tijuana. It took him only an hour to wait in line and cast his ballot.
Hernandez and a group of friends traveled to Tijuana to vote and planned to spend the rest of the day downtown, but their leisure time was cut short. They would return on the same day to National City, and by 6:00 p.m., as the voting centers were about to close, they were not sure if their efforts would pay off.
Though polling places oficially closed at six, a long line of voters continued to wait for several hours outside the voting center in Tijuana ‘s historic Aguacaliente Tower.
Luis Arechiga, a Mexico City native who now lives in National City said he had been waiting for two and a half hours and the line did not appear to be moving. He was not sure if he would still be able to get a ballot, but he said he did not want to go home because he considered voting to be “one of the few rights Mexicans don’t have to pay for.”
As the sun set on Tijuana at 7:30 p.m., voters were still waiting in line though some were considering going home. Cecilia Uribe and Salomon Bautista traveled from Los Angeles and were upset with the way the polling place was organized. They noticed that there was only one computer to check the voters’ registration and scan their ballots.
“We came here like good citizens to fulfill our duties,” they said, “ but they are the ones not fulfilling their duties.”
By 8:00 p.m. the Aguacaliente Tower polling place announced that they had run out of ballots. Those who had been waiting in line for hours returned home upset and disappointed.
Few in San Diego Register for Mexican Election
Pablo Jaime Sainz - La Prensa San Diego
San Diego – Suffering economic and political hardships, Luis Morones came legally to the United States from Mexico 50 years ago, forced to leave the land he loves so much.
Now 86 years old, Morones kept a close relationship with Mexico, always paying attention to the politics, to the changes taking place there.
He didn’t always like what was happening in Mexico. Throughout those long 50 years, he longed for the day when he would be able to vote in a presidential election from his San Diego home.
This year, finally, Morones’s dream will become a reality. He’s one of the estimated 35,700 Mexican citizens registered to vote from the United States in the next Mexican presidential elections, to be held on July 2.
This is the first time Mexican citizens will be able to vote in elections from abroad under a law passed by the Mexican Congress last year.
According to Moisés Bailón, spokesperson for Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), about 13,500 Mexican citizens are registered in California.
Although Morones was eager to vote from here, apathy ruled in San Diego County, where IFE estimates said that only about 300 Mexicans are registered to vote in the July 2 election.
“The response from San Diego residents was very poor,” said Alberto Lozano, spokesperson for the Mexican Consulate in San Diego. “It’s incredible.”
Lozano said that even though the Consulate handed out registration forms, had informational fliers, and created information programs to attract people to register, the San Diego numbers are low compared to the rest of the United States.
One of those reasons might be that even though there are no official numbers on this, many Mexican citizens who are legally in San Diego also have a Tijuana address. They might have decided register to vote in Tijuana.
Also, there was a lot of confusion about the registration process, since Mexican citizens had to have a Credencial de Elector (Federal Voter Registration Card) in order to register.
Morones recently received his voting package in the mail. It contained his ballot, a small booklet with information about the five presidential candidates, and a CD and a DVD with the candidates’ proposals.
The ballot needs to be mailed by register mail or the vote will be null. Also, it must arrive in Mexico City by July 1, in order to be tallied with the rest of the votes on July 2.
During the registration period, IFE cancelled more than 15,000 forms because they weren’t sent via registered mail or they weren’t signed.
Morones’ son, Enrique, was a member of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad, Mexico’s official group that represents Mexican nationals in the U.S., when the Mexican Congress approved the law that allows citizens to vote from abroad.
“It was a battle that lasted several decades, but it was good that it’s now possible,” said Endrique who has dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship.
He said that this vote will give Mexicans abroad a say in Mexican politics. Before, the only say they had was the money they sent back home.
“It’s a very important step,” said Enrique, who will also participate in these elections. He said that even though only about 300 San Diego residents registered, next time, without a doubt, more people in San Diego will register to vote from abroad. “This is only the first time this is happening,” he said. “It’ll become more popular in the future.” |
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