By Matthew Holloway |
On Sunday, June 2, authorities estimate that anywhere between two and three thousand Mexican nationals descended upon Phoenix and gathered beneath the scorching Arizona sun to vote. According to the Instituto Nacional Electoral, the Mexican government body charged with organizing the nation’s elections, only approximately 600 of those present at the Mexican Consulate Sunday were able to place their vote. A Spanish language outlet estimated the number to be up to 7,000.
Cuitláhuac Osorio Technical secretary of the Executive Directorate of the Federal Register of Voters of the National Electoral Institute (INE) told Conecta Arizona that the Mexican authorities are evaluating whether in-person voting should continue or if the government should switch to doing so electronically or at additional voting centers in the U.S. to accommodate Mexican nationals who are outside of the country on election day.
“Certainly, we did not foresee such an overwhelming participation, that so many people were going to suddenly appear before a Consulate; Having 2,000 or 3,000 people made the operation difficult for us in terms of being able to organize the lines, the resources and capacities that we had available to serve the citizens within the Consulate,” Osorio said (translated by Google).
In an interview with Maritza L. Félix, director and founder of the outlet, Osorio added, “We did not have that expectation of having that number of people outside the Consulate. It’s part of learning. We will have to evaluate other alternatives: for example, if this in-person modality would have to continue using electronic devices, if we would have to use ballots, if we would have to think about (more) voting centers. Nowadays the legislation does not allow it, that is, we were also limited to making the election within the Consulate. The INE will make a detailed evaluation, with all the recommendations.
Félix noted that likely many of the voters were, “People from New Mexico, from Texas, from northern Arizona, people who perhaps due to their irregular immigration status could not go to their homeland to exercise their right and decided to come to Phoenix.” The Mexican voters arrived as early as 5 AM on June 2nd coming from as far away as El Paso, TX.
“On this election day in which we witnessed there were thousands of people: according to representatives and volunteers of the INE, there were about 7,000 people who could have met at the consular headquarters. People from New Mexico, from Texas, from northern Arizona, people who perhaps due to their irregular immigration status could not go to their homeland to exercise their right and decided to come to Phoenix with the idea that there were 1,500 extra ballots. For example, the majority of people from Sonora who came could only vote for the Senate and the Presidency of the Republic,” Félix explained.
According to the outlet, the total number of Mexican nationals who voted from outside the country was 184,374, an increase of 87% over the previous election in 2018.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.