Millions eligible, but complicated process deters many, critics say

By LENNOX SAMUELS and ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
 

MEXICO CITY – When Mexico's Congress cast a historic vote in June allowing the country's expatriates to vote by mail in this year's presidential election, Mexicans in Dallas and other cities celebrated, and advocates predicted millions might register in the U.S.

But as the Sunday registration deadline looms, a minuscule 17,000 people abroad had registered to vote, said officials with Mexico's Federal Election Institute, or IFE.

In North Texas, only 180 had registered, according to the Mexican Consulate-General, which distributed 150,000 forms in the community.

In March, Dallas Consul-General Carlos García de Alba said the vote abroad did not appear to be a high priority to Mexicans, citing having a job and owning a home as more important.

"Unfortunately, that was correct," he said Friday. "This is one occasion you'd love to be wrong, but you're not."

Dallas-area residents who did register said they were satisfied. The decision to grant the right to vote is a privilege and also a recognition of Mexicans who do not live in their country, said Rodolfo Hernández, director of the International Office in the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas.

He said he was not thinking of traveling to vote in Mexico because "this is my community. I live, function and work in Dallas."

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of the people who registered may be disqualified because they filled out forms improperly, said election officials, who added that they could not explain the low participation.

"I can't give you a determinant reason for the low registration," said one official. "Possibly it could be the unprecedented nature of this process, that it is the first time. It could be that people are not interested in the customs abroad, principally in the United States; it could be fear that we could gather information about their personal lives."

He said the agency was hoping for an increase in registrations over the weekend, "but I can't identify a trend for you."

Advocates blamed the low numbers on a lack of interest among ordinary immigrants and on a process they said discourages people from participating. IFE spent an estimated $12 million organizing the absentee vote, but critics said the election agency did not promote the effort well. They also cited complicated registration requirements and the cost of mailing certified registration forms – about $9 per letter.

"The 400,000 or half million who want to vote are there; but the vote [process] was not nice or accessible for them, but they are there," said Primitivo Rodríguez, a leading advocate of the vote abroad.

Roberto Ramos, a Dallas waiter originally from Tamaulipas state, said he initially was happy about the new right but became upset when he learned he would not be able to participate because he lacked an election credential.

"It could be that they don't want everyone to vote," he said.

Stumping ban

IFE also prohibited presidential candidates from campaigning abroad. As a result, immigrants have not heard directly from the leading candidates: Felipe Calderón of President Vicente Fox's National Action Party, or PAN; Roberto Madrazo, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ran the country for 71 years; and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD.

"It's horrible, horrible, horrible because so many people want to know about the presidential candidates, and all I can do is stare at them and say, 'Sorry, I can't talk about my candidate,' " said Talia Vázquez, who works for the López Obrador campaign.

"Congress and IFE put every obstacle possible for this to fail, and it did. Many of these voters would have been first-time voters, and we failed them miserably," added Ms. Vázquez, who has crisscrossed the U.S. over the last six months on behalf of the candidate.

Ironically, during his 2000 campaign, Mr. Fox traveled around the U.S., igniting support among immigrants in such places as Dallas, where he took the stage with musical groups; Fresno, Calif., where he attended fairs; and Chicago, where he rode horses.

Some analysts said the process might have worked better if it had been supported by Mexico's politicians.

'Major sabotage'

"This was a major sabotage by the political parties because they simply didn't trust something that was new," said Daniel Lund, president of MUND Americas, a Mexico City polling firm. "You simply have to have political parties and their operatives campaigning abroad to stimulate interest and excitement, to convince voters that their candidates are worth it. That's what you do in politics."

IFE President Luis Carlos Ugalde rejected the criticisms.

"The Mexican electoral law specifically prohibits any kind of contribution from foreign sources, whether they are individuals, organizations or firms," he said. "If Congress had allowed presidential candidates to campaign outside Mexico, a series of problems would have arisen to prevent detecting and proving the existence of this kind of financial support."

Some in Mexico maintain that the vote-abroad measure is important regardless of the number of people participating.

"Even if not one migrant turns out to vote, this was a historic debt that Mexico owed its compatriots abroad," said Rubén Aguilar, Mr. Fox's spokesman. "This represents a new political space for our migrants, an opportunity to bridge the gap between two societies: those living in Mexico and those living abroad."

In spite of the low numbers, all three political candidates have representatives visiting U.S. cities. Ms. Vázquez plans to make her fifth trip to Dallas in February.

"The vote is so small," she said, "but their influence remains enormous."

Al Día staff writer Patricia Estrada in Dallas and Mexico Bureau news assistant Javier García contributed to this report.