HispanicVista Columnists

By Eduardo Stanley (Translated from Spanish by Elena Shore)
New America Media Jan 10, 2006
The cold January night didn’t keep some two-dozen farm workers from attending a brief presentation on the importance of voting in Mexico’s next presidential election – even if they are not currently living there.

The meeting took place in an agricultural labor camp near Caruthers, twenty miles southwest of Fresno, where many indigenous Mixtec migrants from the Mexican state of Guerrero live in barracks and work on nearby farms.

“The right to vote is crucial because voting has an influence on questions like minimum wage, unions, education and other things,” said Arturo Martínez, who was a student leader in Mexico during the 1960s and 1970s, on his visit to California. “They may have approved the law allowing Mexicans abroad to vote, but it has obvious limitations.”

The law, passed in 2005 by Mexico’s Congress, allows Mexicans living outside of Mexico to vote in the country’s elections. But, Martinez says, it poses a problem for immigrants living in the United States: only those who are registered qualify to vote—and registration must be done in Mexico. Those interested must send their information via certified mail before Jan. 15, 2006, using a special form. They then receive their voting ballot in the mail, which they must mail back the same way.

For large sectors of migrants, especially those who live in rural areas, acquiring the necessary forms and paying the eight dollars in mailing costs is difficult. It may be the reason why, just days before the deadline to register, the Mexican government has received only 14,000 forms, much less than the nearly 400,000 voters it originally estimated would register. Because of this, many people have called the law a failure.

“It’s embarrassing that they have to pay to exercise their right,” said Martínez, referring to the cost of mail necessary to send the registration forms. Others, who fault the immigrants, say their lack of interest is a mark of indifference on the part of Mexicans living in the U.S.

But another detail may explain, at least in part, the alleged apathy of potential Mexican voters abroad. “If we vote, how will it benefit our communities?” asked Alberto Pausano in Mixtec, expressing his mistrust of politicians and traditional parties that have broken their campaign promises.

Others expressed a lack of knowledge about candidates and their platforms. The law approved last year prohibits candidates from advertising or conducting campaigns outside of Mexico. Mexican law also obliges political parties to spend 60 percent of their budget on electronic media – primarily television — which directly benefits companies like Televisa, explained Martínez. But the recent meeting in California’s Central Valley confirmed the importance of direct dialogue as a way to get out the vote.

Traditional political campaigns in Latin America have drummed up support through meetings, community dialogues and presentations. Media heavy political campaigns -- the dominant form in the U.S. -- is a rather foreign concept for Latino immigrants.

Rufino Domínguez, coordinator of the Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations (FIOB), based in Fresno, confirmed to the audience that his organization would help people fill out the voter registration forms and would pay the costs to send them. Eight attendees showed their voter registration cards. The next day, others returned to the FIOB office to register to vote.

“The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) spends millions in advertising in media when they should be investing in these kinds of community meetings,” Martínez said.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=bfb2e42224ef4d6cbd75603994fdd81c