BajaNews - 7-3-2006 at 08:57 AM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060703-9...
By Sandra Dibble
July 3, 2006
TIJUANA ? It took a seven-hour drive from Fresno, then close to three hours standing in line. But Mar?a Salom? Hern?ndez wasn't complaining early
yesterday morning.
?We're hoping for a better future, for our family members in Mexico,? said the 38-year-old peach-cannery worker and mother of five, as she prepared to
cast her ballot in Mexico's presidential election. ?We want to find a better president for our country, so that fewer people come across.?
The election prompted thousands to head to Mexico to vote in special polling booths through northern Mexico. In Tijuana, hundreds waited hours to vote
in an outdoor polling place just yards from the U.S. border fence at A.L. Rodr?guez International Airport.
The snaking line included a large number of legal U.S. residents: former farm workers, young professionals, business owners, students, grandmothers
and young couples pushing baby strollers. They came from Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and Chula Vista with ties to all corners of Mexico, from
Culiacan to Puerto Vallarta, from Mexico City to Veracruz.
Among the crowd braving the heat and sun were 50 Mexicans from the Los Angeles area led by Francisco Moreno, 45, an independent television producer
from Downey and vice president of the Council of Mexican Federations in North America.
?We're interested because our families live on this side, we send them money, we come to Mexico on vacation, we want Mexico to keep growing,? Moreno
said.
Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute offered absentee ballots for the first time this election and accepted the votes of nearly 33,000 people living
abroad. Many of those waiting yesterday said they weren't able to apply in time or had trouble with the paperwork, and crossing the border to vote was
their only option.
Tijuana had 20 of the 822 special polling stations nationwide for Mexicans in transit ? two of them at the airport. Each had 750 ballots. By 8 a.m.,
when the polls were scheduled to open, about 200 people were waiting in line at the Tijuana airport.
Delays caused tempers to flare. Voting didn't begin until 8:45 a.m. at one airport polling place, and 9:30 at the other. Computer problems caused
delays, and the line moved slowly; at 6:30 p.m., a half-hour after the official closing of polls, voting continued for those who had been in line.
But for the most part, the voters were willing to wait. Javier Gaxiola, 26, arrived at 8:30 a.m. and didn't vote until 4? hours later. ?We could have
been waiting three more hours and it would have been worth it,? said Gaxiola, a native of Sinaloa, who is preparing to enter a graduate program in
business at the University of San Diego.
The voters were given three ballots ? for president, the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. The Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI,
filed a complaint challenging the results, saying ?in transit? voters should be only voting for president. But electoral officials said their
preferences in the other races could be legally taken into account in assigning multidistrict seats in both houses.
?A lot of people fought for this right, so I figured I'd better make good use of it,? Mariana Sandoval, 30, a finance manager who lives in San Diego,
who arrived at 6:30 a.m. and waited near the front of the line.
Cristina Guzm?n, 55, who owns raw-food restaurants in Chula Vista and Carlsbad, was at the back of the line yesterday morning and was prepared to
wait. ?The race is so tight that one vote can make a difference, so we have to stand for what we believe.?
bajalou - 7-3-2006 at 09:07 AM
Quite an example compared to the ususal USA voter turnout.
Fasten Your Seat Belts !
MrBillM - 7-3-2006 at 07:07 PM
It's going to be a Rocky Ride. What the election shows so far is an even divide between Right and Left. Sound Familiar ? Whoever is declared the
winner, half the country will be peeed.
From the viewpoint of a bystander, it's GREAT ! The possibility of unbridled animosity and outrage will make for a great spectator
sport. Providing, of course, that it doesn't spill over into rage towards foreign residents. OOPS! That would be uncomfortable, if exciting.
I'm uncertain over which will be the best outcome, but for sheer drama I think an Obrador victory would be spicy since there is no hope that he could
ever keep his promises without Bankrupting the Country. Unless, of course, he aggressively pushed for reforms that would attack the Aristocracy (can
you say "Slim" ?) and then we could start a betting pool on his assasination date. Sooner, rather than later.
Anyway you cut it, we are in for "interesting" times.
Regarding the voter turnout: It is especially interesting when you think of how fruitless the whole exercise is. NOBODY is going to keep their
promises.