Mexicans prepare to vote in Chicago for their homeland’s president, with a woman as a front-runner

For the first time, Mexican nationals living in Illinois and northern Indiana can cast a vote in person at the Consulate General of Mexico of Chicago for the country’s presidential election that could elect its first-ever female president.

The historical election on June 2, along with the move by the National Electoral Institute to provide in-person voting for Mexicans at consulates in the U.S., Canada and France, has inspired thousands to register to vote from abroad for the first time.

More than 150,000 Mexican nationals have registered to vote in person, online and through mail to cast a ballot for either front-runner Claudia Sheinbaum, 61, of Morena, the candidate of the country’s current ruling party, or her opponent, Xóchitl Gàlvez, 60, of the Partido Acción Nacional or Pan. A third, less popular candidate, Jorge Álvarez Máynez of Movimiento Ciudadano, is also running.

Mexican nationals make up more than half the voters who registered to vote from abroad in the Mexican presidential elections in 2018, according to Arturo Castillo, electoral adviser of the National Electoral Institute.

“There’s no doubt that Mexicans in Chicago have extremely strong ties to their home country,” said Reyna Torres Mendivil, the consul general of Mexico in Chicago. And the excitement of voting for the possibly first female president is driving people to register, she said.

Chicago is the U.S. city with the second largest number of registered Mexican voters, a reflection of the fabric of the city where, according to the census, 1 in 5 Chicagoans identify as Mexicans, Castillo said. Los Angeles has the most registered Mexican voters, with Houston in third place.

On Thursday, the National Electoral Institute extended voter registration through Feb. 25 to allow more time for Mexican immigrants to register and increase electoral participation abroad, Castillo said.

Mexicans living in Chicago say voting will be a way to honor their roots and loved ones who continue to live in Mexico. For those who are undocumented and cannot travel back to the country, voting gives them a say in the future of the country they love, where they send money, and a place they still consider home.

That is the case for Celina Guevara, who arrived in Chicago nearly three decades ago from Guerrero, Mexico, and has not returned.

“It’s an opportunity that we’ve never had before, and it is something that we need to take advantage of,” Guevara said recently as she waited in line at the Mexican Consulate in Chicago to obtain her Mexican voter’s identification to register to vote. “It’s giving us the voice we need. One we’ve never had.”

Guevara said she did not leave Mexico because she wanted to. Instead, extreme poverty and violence forced her to flee. Being able to vote makes her feel connected to her home country. She sends money to her family in Guerrero each month and also invests in property.

More than $63 billion in remittances were sent to Mexico in 2023, with most of the money arriving from the United States, according to Banxico, Mexico’s central bank.

Guevara, a mother of three U.S.-born daughters, said she was motivated to register to vote because she believes that the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has made moves that have positively affected Mexicans and she wants to continue supporting his Morena party.

According to an analysis of the Mexican presidential election by the Wilson Center, which offers nonpartisan counsel and insights on global affairs to policymakers, polls suggest that most Mexicans favor Sheinbaum, the candidate of the Morena party.

Most Morena supporters are driven mainly by López Obrador’s social and economic programs, which aimed to help low-income Mexicans, said Andrew Rudman, the director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center.

Salvador Hernandez, 74, a Chicago resident who’s a native of Jalisco, Mexico, is not one of them.

Though he visits his native Mexico often, he has never voted in any type of election. This year he wants to cast a ballot to make sure he votes Morena out.

“The violence has been terrible throughout Mexico,” Hernandez said. Still, he is excited about the possibility of electing a woman president.

Regardless of who the Mexican people favor, both the Mexican community in Chicago and their leaders applaud the historic move that is uplifting the dialogue of the presence of Mexicans in the United States.

Torres Mendivil applauded the work of Chicago activists who for decades advocated to ensure that Mexicans abroad could vote in Mexican elections by working hand in hand with the National Electoral Institute.

Mendivil said that the message is very clear for both Mexican and American politicians regarding Mexican immigrants: “We have a community that is invested in issues that affect both, Chicago and Mexico.”

Mendivil said that some of the issues that matter the most to Mexicans living abroad include the economy and safety. For others, immigration policies and relations with the U.S. president are more important.

Guevara believes that if more Mexicans in the United States vote, they can eventually make a difference, forcing whoever is elected to also advocate on their behalf by pushing U.S. politicians for a pathway to legalization. “Or at least,” she said, “a safer and more stable Mexico so that no more Mexicans are forced out.”

But despite the significant number of Mexicans in the Chicago area, the numbers registered are not proportional to the 3 million Mexican nationals the consular office serves, Mendivil said.

That’s because civic participation is a challenge. After all, for most working-class Mexican nationals, voting is not a priority. In the United States, most Mexican immigrants are focused on their families, jobs and health, she said.

This year, the consulate in Chicago is working to create campaigns to educate the community about the voting process in Mexico and encourage people to vote.

Mexicans in Chicago area can register to vote through Feb. 25

To be eligible to vote, Mexicans abroad must have a valid voting ID card and must register to vote at www.votoextranjero.mx. People with a valid voting ID card who register by Feb. 25 may choose to vote through one of three ways:

•Postal: During the first week of May, individuals opting to vote by mail will receive a package at their homes sent by the National Electoral Institute. The package will contain the ballots for casting votes and a prepaid envelope to send them back to Mexico at no cost.

•Online: Those choosing to vote online will receive an email from the INE no later than May 3, containing the keys to cast their votes on the institute’s platform.

•In person: Individuals may attend one of the consular offices enabled for voting in person to cast their votes through electronic ballot boxes.

Those who do not register by Feb. 20 will only be able to vote in person at one of the 23 consular offices with installed polling stations, provided there are still available ballots. Each consular office will receive 1,500 ballots.

In the United States, in-person voting will take place at the Mexican consulates in Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; Fresno, California; Houston; Los Angeles; New Brunswick, New Jersey; New York; Oklahoma City; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix; Raleigh, North Carolina; Sacramento, California; San Bernardino, California; San Diego; San Francisco; San Jose, California; Santa Ana, California; Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Mexicans can obtain their voting ID card at the Consulate General Mexico of Chicago by sending an email to conchicago@sre.gob.mx and presenting the following documents at their appointment: Mexican birth certificate or proof of Mexican nationality, photo ID and proof of address. The ID will be delivered to their address within four to five weeks after their appointment.

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