Look South - Americans could learn from Mexican elections. --Despite this ruckus, Mexicans have something to teach Americans about how to run an election. Many types of vote fraud that have been alleged in American elections simply could not occur in Mexico. After Mexicos 1988 election, when the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) was accused of staging a
computer crash that gave them the votes needed to stay in power, major reforms were implemented. To begin, Mexico spends much more than the U.S. on measures to prevent vote fraud. All voters in Mexico must present
voter IDs at the polls, which include not only a photo but also a thumbprint. Opponents of a photo-voter-ID system in the United States argue that any such system would keep voters from the polls and would impact mostly lower-income voters. Yet in Mexico, where about
40 percent of the population is below the poverty line, strict voter-ID rules have actually
increased voter turnout .