How easy is it for Mexican citizens living abroad to register and vote in Mexican elections?

Registering to vote is like running in a circle while juggling three balls. The first hassle is you must go to a consulate in person and start the paperwork for getting a voter ID. Immigrants don’t have a lot of time — often they work two jobs, or three. After work, they want a bit of time with their family. And what if you don’t get off work before the consulate closes? 

And you can’t just show up. You have to make an appointment, and the consulate doesn’t make voter IDs a priority. You have to have all your documents with you, and that’s not easy. Not everyone from Mexico’s rural areas even has birth certificates. The consulate can send you home with nothing.

Sample voter ID with US address. Credit: Cynjen Romero

After the consulate sends your information to the National Electoral Institute, or INE, you wait four to six weeks for a letter with a number so you can go online and fill out another questionnaire confirming your identity. Some applicants don’t have computers or know how to go online.

Finally, after registration, you must tell the INE that you plan to vote. Voting lists are destroyed after each election, so they don’t know who voted before. Why? To guard against fraud? It’s another hoop to jump through. People often forget to renew their intention to vote; they can still vote, but it takes more time.

Who runs Mexican elections? Local officials, as in the US?

No, the INE is responsible for making sure the elections are free, fair and accessible to all eligible voters in Mexico and abroad. It’s an independent body, appointed by Congress, and members serve for seven years. Several were appointed by the PRI government before Morena won in 2018.

Their budget is incredible! For 2024, their budget was 22,000,000,000 pesos, or over a billion dollars. For Mexican citizens who live and vote in the US, they were allotted 1,000,000 pesos, or about $55,000, for each of the twenty consulates. It’s the world’s most expensive election agency, so elections should run smoothly. You’d think.

For the June 2, 2024 election, how did the INE prepare people to participate?

In January, I said to the INE, “We need flyers to tell people about the voting process.” They said, “We don’t have a budget for flyers.” In Chicago, we have an active Morena committee, so we dug up our own money for flyers. But what about farmworkers living in rural areas? Did they get information? The INE did nothing. 

We have three ways to vote: by mail, online, or in person at the consulate. We encouraged people to vote in person because election day should be like a holiday. We wanted people to interact with each other after voting — go to the park, eat together, celebrate.

Describe the scene in Chicago at the consulate.

Voters started arriving at 4:00 am; I think some stayed overnight. When I arrived at 5:00, 200 people were standing in line, and by 9:00 over 1000 people. They were happy, in a good mood.

Chicago voters. Photo: Manuel Castro

But the INE only sent two people to handle everything; consulate staff weren’t working the polls. The guy from the INE didn’t know Chicago,  didn’t realize his hotel was an hour away from the consulate, so he came late — at 10:00. No one told the Chicago city authorities that a vote was happening, so when the crowd got huge and started blocking the street, the police came. But the INE official didn’t speak English! I ended up translating, and luckily, the Chicago police were cool.

Inside the consulate, nine people could vote at a time — but then a computer or a barcode wouldn’t work, elders were unfamiliar with computerized voting machines — voting took 9 to 15 minutes for each person. The line moved slowly. By 2:00, people were getting angry. There were shouts of “F…king INE!” and “Fraud!” At 6:00, the INE officials came out and said the polls were closed. They didn’t allow the people still standing in line to vote! Some had waited all day.

Chicago voters. Photo: Manuel Castro

But someone started to sing the national anthem, followed by “Cielito Lindo.” Someone shouted out Claudia’s name. The voting area is supposed to be non-partisan, but people started cheering for Claudia. Someone brought a beatbox — and it turned into a festival. So the day ended with people happy again, knowing that Morena would win. 

After June 2, a number of you went to Mexico City and filed a human rights complaint against the INE. Why human rights?

Electoral rights are human rights. Many who showed up to vote were not allowed to do so. People were put in danger. The INE knew people would congregate but provided no crowd control measures — no signs, no red cones, no people giving instructions, no moving the elderly or those in wheelchairs to the front. 

Not every city was as lucky as we were with the police. In Phoenix, Houston and New York, when the crowd flooded into the street, the police said, “Go home or we’ll arrest you!” They formed a blue line like for a riot; someone could have gotten hurt. The complete lack of regard for the people was a violation of their human rights.

What can the government do to avoid these problems next time?

AMLO’s proposed constitutional reforms to the electoral system won’t help Mexicans living abroad. We need our own chapter. It should be easier to register and vote in person at more places than consulates, for example, in Mexicano neighborhoods. We have many ideas we’ll take to the Congress.

We’re an important constituency. In each of the 20 cities, between three and ten thousand people showed up to vote. In spite of it all, 200,000 Mexicanos in the US voted by mail, online or in person. But we are millions. Next election, we’ll be many more!

Mexicans are interested in Mexican politics, including the US-Mexico relationship. They’ll want to vote in the US election in November. We have a lot at stake with all the current threats against us in the air. Mexicans voted for the progressive agenda in Mexico, and I think they’ll vote the same way in the US election. We’re ready to flex our political muscle!