Undoubtedly, one of the Mexican electoral system's significant advances has been creating mechanisms to empower and encourage the voting of millions of Mexicans who reside outside the country. This system, despite initial concerns related to technology, ensures efficiency, transparency, and reliability for the vote regardless of the circumstances. It has been a long journey for the different governments in Mexico to reach this goal for the current elections.
Mexico's path in this matter is just over 18 years after the creation of the 'IFE.' So, to continue with autonomy objectives and satisfactorily carry out the elections organized and counted by citizens, the next and necessary step was to enable the voting of millions of Mexicans who resided in other countries. At first, due to their geographical proximity and the degree of participation in the Mexican economy, those living in the United States of America were thought of. After establishing that need, time and technology made it possible to guarantee the right to vote for Mexicans from anywhere in the world, marking significant and hopeful progress.
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The current 3 modalities of the Mexican vote from abroad
The vote of Mexicans abroad is a reality, and currently, it can be done in three ways: online voting, postal voting, and in-person voting in 20 cities in the United States, one in Canada, and two in Europe. This year, voting online occurs from May 18th until June 2nd at 6:00 pm (Central Mexico time.) Regarding the mail voting, the electoral package must be sent to the country and must arrive no later than 8:00 am on June 1st, 2024, and the in-person vote will take place on June 2nd in the voting receiving modules that will be enabled in Madrid, Paris, Montreal, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Fresno, Houston, Los Angeles, New Brunswick, New York, Oklahoma, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San José, Santa Anna, Seattle and Washington D.C.
Now, according to a study by the General Directorate of the Historical Archive of the Senate of the Republic in 2003, the current voting system from abroad in Mexico indicates that in some countries like Germany, the United States, France, Brazil, and Paraguay, the corresponding governments had already used the abovementioned 'alternative' voting modalities. By 2018, 112 countries and territories in the world had an alternative modality or device for voting abroad, and more than 50% of those are considered active democracies, according to a study by José Ospina-Valencia published in 'DW' on February 2nd, 2018.
In Mexico, the vote of Mexicans abroad is a reality, and our transformative movement has been one of the main promoters of making this a fact. Of course, the foreign vote has not been far from complexities and controversy due to technological glitches or issues allegedly related to the officials of the National Electoral Institute. Recently, the vote of Mexicans residing abroad presented a serious and controversial concern, and that is that approximately 40 thousand people who had processed to vote were temporarily discarded. This situation became public knowledge thanks to the fact that many migrants who sympathize with the 'Fourth Transformation' (4T) movement of Mexico denounced it at an event organized by former Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard for Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum, the current 4T candidate for the presidency.
The pressure from the migrants and the 4T party put this problem on the political agenda, so the joint pressure allowed 35 thousand people to be reincorporated into the registry of those who will be able to vote from abroad. It should be noted that the INE's response was timely and attentive, which allowed the right of fellow citizens to vote to be supported. The vote of Mexicans in the elections on June 2nd, from and abroad, is a fact, and it seems the vast majority of Mexicans inside and outside the country are a few weeks away from reaffirming their support for the 4T movement.