Mexicans living in Texas vote in the Mexican presidential election

HOUSTON — Mexican citizens living in Houston went to the polls Sunday to vote for the likely first female president of Mexico, overwhelmingly expressing concerns about security, from the power of Mexican drug cartels to robberies ​​​at street level.

They had to choose between two women: a former academic who promises to continue the populist policies of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Claudia Sheinbaum, and a former senator and tech entrepreneur who vows to step up the fight against deadly drug cartels, Xochitl Galvez. A third male candidate, from a smaller party, had focused his attention on the youth vote.

The Mexican consulate in Houston was one of two polling stations in Texas, the other in Dallas, to hold in-person voting for Mexican nationals living in the United States.

Voters told KHOU 11 News they started lining up at 5 a.m. Sunday to vote and waited for hours. Polling stations open at 9 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m.

Inside the consulate on Richmond Avenue were eight voting machines. Many people said that it was not enough for the number of people present.

“I was here all night,” Maria Elisa Galvan said. “I’m from The Woodlands, I stayed in a hotel to be one of the first in line.”

“Queremos el cambio, queremos tener el derecho al voto,” said Alejandra Perales, a woman who came from San Antonio to make her voice heard.

Those who wanted to vote had to have been registered by February 25, 2024, but 1,500 provisional ballots were available for those with valid voting ID.

Houston police were even called to control the crowds outside the Mexican consulate as enthusiastic voters called the election “fraudulent” because they had been waiting for hours.

After polling stations closed, people still waiting outside were heard chanting “We want to vote.”

According to a report from Wilson’s Center Mexican Institute, more than 1.3 million registered Mexican voters live abroad. The report also states that the U.S. cities with the highest voting potential are Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas.

The elections are widely seen as a referendum on López Obrador, a populist who has expanded social programs but largely failed to reduce cartel violence in Mexico. His Morena party currently holds 23 of 32 governorships and a simple majority of seats in both houses of Congress. The Mexican constitution prohibits the re-election of the president.

Both leading presidential candidates are women and either would be Mexico’s first female president. The third candidate from a smaller party, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, was far behind.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum is running with the Morena party. Sheinbaum, leading the race, has promised to continue all of López Obrador’s policies, including a universal pension for the elderly and a program that pays young people in apprenticeships.

Opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, whose father was an indigenous Otomi, went from selling street snacks in her poor hometown to starting her own technology companies. The candidate for a coalition of major opposition parties, she left the Senate last year to focus her anger on López Obrador’s decision to avoid confronting drug cartels through his “hugs, not” policy. balls “. She pledged to pursue criminals more aggressively.

Persistent cartel violence, as well as Mexico’s poor economic performance, are voters’ top concerns.

López Obrador claims to have reduced historically high homicide levels by 20% since he took office in December 2018. But that is largely a claim based on a questionable reading of the statistics; the actual homicide rate appears to have declined by only about 4 percent in six years.

About 675,000 Mexicans living abroad are registered to vote, but only a small percentage have done so in the past. Voting is not compulsory in Mexico and overall turnout hovered around 60% in recent elections. This compares to the turnout in recent US presidential elections. An exception occurred in 2020, when the clash between then-President Donald Trump and future President Joe Biden pushed U.S. voter turnout to 67%, its highest level since decades.

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