Posted on 06/29/2005 7:07:15 AM PDT by John Filson
Posted on Wed, Jun. 29, 2005
MEXICO
Mexican migrants could vote from U.S.
Mexican lawmakers approved absentee voting for millions of migrants living abroad. An estimated 11 million Mexicans live overseas, most in the United States.
BY WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - Lawmakers overwhelming approved on Tuesday a law allowing millions of Mexicans living abroad to vote by mail in next year's presidential election -- a measure that could reshape the country's leadership race.
To chants of ''Viva Mexico,'' the lower house of Congress passed an absentee voting proposal by a margin of 455 to 6 with six abstentions.
The bill was already approved by Mexico's Senate and now only needs to signed by President Vicente Fox to become law -- something he has promised to do.
As their colleagues cast votes on the electronic board, dozens of visiting migrants waved flags and sang the Mexican national anthem.
''Today is historic,'' said Maria Sara Rocha, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. ``It's a triumph.''
An estimated 11 million Mexicans, as much as 14 percent of the country's electorate, live overseas, most in the United States.
Expatriates are legally allowed to vote and hold dual citizenship, but have been effectively barred from participating in elections because of the lack of an absentee ballot system.
When Fox ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, during elections in 2000, thousands of Mexicans crossed from the United States into their homeland to seek special voting booths set up along the border -- many of which soon ran out of ballots.
It was not clear which parties might benefit from the migrant voting.
PRI, which controls the largest bloc of seats in Congress, had long been rumored to fear that migrants would vote against it because they were forced to leave the country for lack of work during its rule.
It is the only party so far to have elected a migrant to Congress, however.
The support came despite fears expressed by members of all major political parties that the country's notoriously slow and corrupt postal service will handle mailing out ballots.
''Voting by mail has its advantages and disadvantages, but it is the consensus that has been agreed upon,'' said Juan José García of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party.
The bill was passed with little time to spare. An absentee ballot system must be approved by the end of the month to take effect in time for the July 2, 2006, presidential election.
I have no problem with this at all. The Mexican government should provide the US with a list of all voters and their addresses who register so that we can verify who is here legally. To not do so would make the Mexican Government an accessory to a crime right?
I was thinking the same thing -- the Mexican Government knows who these people are and time for the US Government to find out the same!
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