Living outside Mexico and want to vote in the June 2, 2024 elections? Here’s what you need to know
The countdown is underway, with approximately 200 days remaining for Mexicans abroad to vote in their country’s elections on June 2, 2024.
But what do you need to know if you live outside of Mexico?
▪ First, you can vote from abroad
▪ Second, you can obtain your voter ID at consulates or your place of origin
▪ Third, you need to register to vote from abroad
▪ Fourth, there are three ways to cast your vote
“We are here promoting and informing the Mexican, and specifically Guanajuato community, that they can cast their vote. They have to come to the consulate to obtain their voter ID, and there are different voting modalities,” said Guadalupe Mendiola González, from the Electoral Institute of the State of Guanajuato.
Mendiola González is in charge of the voting for Guanajuatenses residing abroad. Mendiola González, along with Nora Ruth Chávez González, director of political and electoral culture in the state of Guanajuato, visited Fresno on November 7 as part of a tour by the Special Commission for the Vote of Guanajuatenses Residing Abroad to promote the vote of Guanajuatenses living abroad.
Chávez González said, “We organize local elections, such as the governorship, municipalities, and the local congress. Nationally, the INE (National Electoral Institute) organizes presidential elections, Federal Deputies, and Senators, but we work together.”
The scheduled tour from October 28 to November 14 in California included visits to consulates across the state, including Los Angeles, Oxnard, San Jose, Sacramento, and San Francisco.
“We know that all Mexicans will be able to vote,” said Mendiola González, adding that they are informing Mexicans abroad that they will be able to vote on June 2, 2024.
To be able to vote, people have to obtain a voter ID and register on the nominal list of residents abroad, she said. “Let’s say that this process is the same for everyone, for all Mexicans,” said Mendiola González.
Mexicans abroad, including those living in the Central Valley, have until February 20, 2024, to register to vote from abroad for federal elections, including the presidency and senators, and some governorships or migrant deputies or other federative entities.
Two of the main candidates for the presidential race are women and would make history if elected.
Mendiola González said that the political constitution of several states such as Jalisco, Yucatán, Chiapas, Puebla, and including the state of Guanajuato, establishes that their residents abroad have the right to vote for the governorship of the state in the June elections.
“Our message is to promote voting,” said Mendiola González. “And as an electoral authority, we have the constitutional duty to guarantee that all Mexicans residing abroad vote, and this guarantee also implies promotion,” said Chávez González. “And promotion, in simple terms, is to let citizens or Mexicans residing abroad know what the voting methods are. Let them know that they have the right to vote from abroad.
What are the steps to register?
Having a voter ID with a photo is the key to voting for Mexicans residing abroad and Mexicans in Mexico.
With the voter ID, you have the possibility to vote. You can obtain the ID in two ways: through the consulate or by processing the ID in your place of origin, an option for Mexicans residing abroad who have a constant return to Mexico. With that ID, they will be able to vote abroad. In the case of a person with an ID issued in Mexico with an address in Mexico, they will have to inform the electoral authorities that they are abroad and want to vote from there.
They must be registered on the nominal electoral list of Mexicans residing abroad. The intention of the list is for authorities to identify where Mexicans are for the logistical deployment involved in guaranteeing the right to vote.
For registration on the nominal electoral list, people have to choose one of the three voting modalities: postal voting (which has been used in most electoral processes); electronic voting via the Internet, and in the upcoming 2024 elections, for the first time, in-person voting at consulates.
▪ Postal Vote: Receive the ballots at the registered address on the ID, put them in the envelope, and send them back to Mexico.
▪ Electronic Voting via the Internet: Register and have an email on hand to receive a series of verifications to your email account. Ten days before the election day, a system opens, and people can enter, and cast their vote until the same day as the election, closing at the same time as all polling stations nationwide.
▪ In-person voting at consulates. The INE has not confirmed the list of consulates in the United States that will have in-person voting.
In early 2023, in the gubernatorial elections in the State of Mexico and Coahuila, there was a first pilot test of in-person voting in three consulates in the United States –Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago– and also at the consulate in Montreal, Canada.
How to process the voter ID at consulates
Nuria Zuñiga, Deputy Consul of the Consulate of Mexico in Fresno, said that obtaining a voter ID is the first important step to voting as a Mexican abroad.
“As of October 20, consulates have been receiving people who want to process only their voter ID without an appointment,” said Zuñiga. “In Fresno, it is being received from Monday to Friday from 7 to 11 a.m.”.
“It is only for the voter ID,” she reiterated. The consulate recommends that once the ID arrives, people activate it.
“Some people overlook or do not activate that step, and although it will serve them to vote, it will not serve them as identification in Mexico,” Zúñiga said. “So, it is important to activate the ID so that it indeed has the full potential as identification per se and as an identification specifically to exercise their vote.”
The three requirements needed to process the ID are:
▪ Birth certificates in good legible condition, either security paper birth certificates or those downloaded from the Tramita Tu Acta program, which are on bond paper but consulates can verify.
▪ A valid official photo ID (It can be a U.S. ID, for example, a driver’s license or California ID, but as long as it is valid and the name matches the Birth Certificate).
▪ And proof of address where the ID will be sent, is important.
Zúñiga said that it happens a lot with married women who change their last name to their husband’s name. So, additionally, they will have to present their marriage certificate so that the consulate can make the connection between the Mexican person registered with a name in Mexico and the identification presented.
People born abroad to Mexican parents who have Mexican nationality and wish to process their voter ID are asked to present the birth certificate of one of their parents or the father or mother, or the one they choose if they are from different states so that they can be assigned to a specific state so that the INE can integrate them into the nominal list of a state.
“And then they have the right in the case that there is a vote for governor in the case of Guanajuato and other states mentioned,” said Zúñiga.
Once the IDs are processed, they are valid for 10 years.
“If you lost your ID, we recommend that you come and process another one,” said Zuñiga, adding that the deadlines are important since Mexicans abroad have until February 20 to process their ID.
Why? Because the issuance deadlines for the ID are up to 90 days –so that people can receive their ID in time, activate it, and register on the nominal list to be able to exercise their vote.
“From October 20, 2023, to February 20, 2024, we will be accepting people without an appointment, but it is important that they have this date very present because if they process it on the 21st, it cannot be guaranteed that they can exercise their right to vote,” said Zuñiga.
“The right to vote is something that, for example, women fought for, and 70 years ago we can vote. Also, the vote of Mexicans abroad is the result of social demands and also of electoral institutes that advance in guaranteeing the right, and it is something they must do to choose who represents us,” said Chávez González.
“Yes, we all build democracy,” added Zúñiga. “We have a motto in which democracy is lived every day, wherever you are, right?”, concluded Mendiola González. “It is important, then, that citizens come or cast their votes under the three modalities.
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