How to vote in the Mexican presidential election in Houston

HOUSTON — On Sunday, Mexican citizens residing in Houston will have the opportunity to vote for the next president of Mexico.

The National Electoral Institute of Mexico, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, implemented the in-person voting program in Mexican consulates in the United States and Canada, including Houston and Dallas.

Those who registered before the February 25, 2024 deadline can visit the Mexican Consulate at 10555 Richmond Avenue on Sunday, June 2, 2024 to vote.

In-person voting will take place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Text information from VotoExtranjero.xm (See instructions in Spanish)

• Access the vote receiving module with your current vote ID, whether processed in the United States or Mexico.
• Identify yourself to those responsible for the vote reception module, who will verify that you are on the nominative list of voters abroad and, if necessary, will provide you with the information necessary to cast your vote.
• Go to the polling station and:
  • Enter your access information for the voting system to open
  • Consult the electoral offer and a ballot paper will be presented to you for each of the elections in which you are entitled to participate, according to your entity of birth or your address indicated on your voter card.
  • Select the option of your preference and confirm your selection
  • Vote
• Once completed, staff at the ballot receiving module will mark your right thumb with an indelible liquid along with your voting ID.

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.

If you have not registered to vote, some Mexican voters in Texas will still be able to claim one of the 1,500 blank ballots available in person at consulates in Houston and Dallas, but only if they have a valid voting ID, according to the Texas Tribune.

Candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, former mayor of Mexico City, has maintained a comfortable double-digit lead in the polls for months. She promises to be a continuation of populist leader López Obrador and is supported by his ruling party, Morena. A scientist by training, Sheinbaum has had to walk a fine line in building her own image while emphasizing her ties to López Obrador, even though she lacks the charisma that attracted many to her political ally.

Candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, an opposition senator and tech entrepreneur, represents a coalition of parties that historically have had little to unite them, aside from their recent opposition to López Obrador. Gálvez is a fierce critic of the outgoing president who does not hesitate to engage in verbal jousting, but who does not seem to generate much fervor for his Strength and Heart for Mexico coalition.

The third candidate is the little-known Jorge Álvarez Máynez, former federal deputy of the Citizen Movement party. He focused on trying to capture the youth vote, but did not achieve much success.

Elected in 2018, López Obrador tapped into large swaths of the population, such as the working class and poor and rural voters who had long felt forgotten by the political system. He has made the fight against corruption his top priority. Even though he’s not on the ballot, much of Sunday’s election revolved around him.

Although he remains very popular, López Obrador has been intolerant of criticism and scrutiny. And his critics say his attacks on the justice system, his reduction in funding for Mexico’s electoral agency and the expansion of the military’s responsibilities in civilian life have eroded Mexican democracy. The opposition responded with large demonstrations.

López Obrador is considered Sheinbaum’s mentor and if she is elected it would cement her legacy and show that her Morena party can survive beyond her presidency.

The parties selected their candidates well before the official start of the campaign for the presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections. On June 2, millions of voters will choose their new leaders in a single round of voting. The winner of the highly anticipated presidential election will have a six-year term.

While most eyes are on the presidential race, Mexicans will also vote for 128 senators, 500 congressional representatives and nearly 20,000 local government positions.

Under López Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” policy, which emphasizes tackling the root societal causes of violence, analysts say cartels and other criminal groups have expanded their control. Homicide rates have remained stubbornly high despite López Obrador’s promises to ease the violence. López Obrador has in many cases refused to confront criminal groups, and activists say his government has tried to reduce Mexico’s official tally of forced disappearances in the run-up to the election.

Cartels and other criminal groups see elections – especially local elections – as an opportunity to seize power. They fought for their territory and at least 145 people linked to politics have been killed by organized crime this year, according to the human rights organization Data Civica.

Violence has been particularly severe in states where criminal groups are fighting for territory like Chiapas and Guerrero in the south, and Michoacan in central Mexico.

Electing a woman president would be a huge step in a country facing increasing levels of gender-based violence and deep gender disparities.

Mexico still has a famously intense “machismo” or culture of male chauvinism that has created great economic and social disparities in society. In its most extreme form, misogyny is expressed through high rates of femicide and acid attacks against women.

Yet historic numbers of women in this socially conservative country are rising to leadership positions and political roles.

This is due in part to decades of government efforts toward greater political representation, including laws requiring political parties to have half of their congressional candidates be women. Since 2018, Mexico’s Congress has been split 50-50 and the number of female governors has exploded.

The two frontrunners, Sheinbaum and Gálvez, have promised to address high rates of gender-based violence and gender disparities if they win.

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