Saturday, July 30, 2005

Absentee voting for Mexicans

For those that follow Mexican politics closely, this will be stale news. Last month, President Fox signed into law a bill that will legalize absentee voting for Mexicans abroad via the postal service. The bill was hotly debated by all of the political parties and the postal service claimed it would not be able to handle the millions of ballots arriving from the U.S. About 98% of Mexicans living abroad live in the United States. It is estimated that half of the 4 million Mexicans living illegally AND legally in the United States will cast ballots in the Presidential election last year. In 2000, Mexicans had to travel back to their home district to cast ballots, and I have at least one friend who travelled from Austin to the D.F. to do so.

While some are concerned about keeping the vote free and fair while using the post, the PAN has been busy opening party offices in U.S. cities.

The implications are interesting. In markets with large populations of Mexican nationals, will parties run campaign ads? Eventually (e.g., 2012), will Mexican candidates make campaign stops in Chicago? How could Mexican officials possibly monitor such campaign spending?

posted by Michelle @ 7:13 PM,

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