Posted on 07/02/2006 11:46:21 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES
Thousands of Mexican expatriates who didn't get absentee ballots for their homeland's presidential election caravanned to border towns Sunday to cast their votes in a race many believe will impact their lives in the United States.
Leaving in the wee hours Sunday morning, dozens boarded buses in Los Angeles and other Southern California cities to head to Tijuana.
But others, in this country illegally, didn't dare cross the border to vote in person. That fear over the last year kept many from traveling to Mexico to apply for voter card, necessary for either an expatriate ballot or Election Day voting.
Because of that and other obstacles, the potentially powerful expatriate voting bloc likely will have little impact on the tight presidential race between leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon. Of the estimated 4.2 million registered Mexican voters living abroad, about 41,000, or 1 percent, requested absentee ballots.
Maria Salome Rodriguez, a 38-year-old farm worker, drove eight hours with her husband from Fresno to cast a vote at a special polling booth outside Tijuana's airport. They made the trip to the border after their applications for absentee ballots were rejected because they wrote down the wrong address.
"We want to vote so Mexico can improve and offer jobs to people here, because even though we're far away, our heart is still with our homeland," Rodriguez said.
Mexicans said the new president could have a vital role in helping millions of undocumented residents get legal residency. Outgoing President Vicente Fox made immigration a priority in recent months, traveling to the United States to encourage Congress to pass legislation giving illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship.
"It's important for the new president to fight for rights for Mexicans in this country," said Araceli Rodriguez, of Florida City, Fla., who voted with an absentee ballot. "We're always fighting hard to make it, but we've been living under more pressure, more strain."
If Mexican expatriates were disillusioned so few took advantage of the first-ever opportunity to vote with absentee ballots in their homeland's presidential elections, they were also hopeful that will change next time around.
"The main thing is, the door has been opened" for expatriates to vote, Jesus Hernandez, 47, one of only 13,500 Mexicans in California who sent in ballots. "Later, we can reconstruct the procedures to make it easier in the future."
When Mexico's congress passed a law last year extending suffrage to expatriates, Mexicans in the U.S. hailed it as overdue recognition of the billions of dollars they send home every year.
Initial celebrations evaporated when they learned that people who wanted to vote would need a current electoral card, and that the cutoff date to apply for a card was nearly six months before the election. In addition, Mexican electoral laws don't allow campaigning in the United States, making it hard for expatriates to connect with candidates.
The biggest obstacle was the voter card. Many expatriates had to return to Mexico to apply, and for people here illegally the trip was out of the question.
"They couldn't go to Tijuana to get their voting card ... so now they can't vote here or there," said Eduardo Ruiz, president of the Los Angeles-based Federacion de Aguas Calientes, which organized weekly trips to Tijuana last year to help people apply for the card.
Apathy also was an issue. Some said that they came to the United States because Mexican governments had failed to create economic opportunities at home, and that they didn't see that changing anytime soon.
"No matter who they elect, the corruption will continue," said Amelia Juantes, 23, who didn't even attempt to get an absentee ballot.
Patricio Ballados, expatriate vote coordinator for Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute, said the agency would consider recommending to Congress that Mexican nationals be allowed to renew their voting cards at consulates.
"If they really wanted us to vote, they would let us do it at a consulate," said Gustino Fermin, 47, who said he didn't have time to return to Mexico for a voting card. "Next time I will have my card."
____
Associated Press writers Olga R. Rodriguez in Tijuana, Adrian Sainz in Miami and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.
Quick, close the border.
The plurality that have made the margin of victory for any one of the candidates, has been left behind in the US.
Absentee ballots cannot be sent out to somebody, if nobody knows where they are, even if the Mexican government at any level had any interest in collecting absentee ballots.
So there may be five or six million potential votes that never got home to get counted.
Which makes the Mexican Presidential election look like it was rigged and not particularly legitimate.
Sounds like my Washington State elections !
I was thinking the same thing.
"It's important for the new president to fight for rights for Mexicans in this country," said Araceli Rodriguez, of Florida City, Fla.,
Why the hell don't they fight for rights for Mexicans in their own damn country?
Don't tell me some voters are being disenfranchised?
Quick, tell Howard Dean. We can register them to vote here. Everyones welcome.
"...look like it was rigged ..."
In Mexico EVERYTHING is RIGGED!
Fortunately, through the efforts of the Democratic Party, they are able to vot in the U.S.
Yep, & thousands (millions) of these same voters now qualify to vote in both countries (& many of their US born kids).
Didn't they start their campaigns in the US? Any idea who is expected to win?
It's a tossup.. not sure if they campaigned here, I don't think so.
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