SALT LAKE CITY — As the U.S. presidential election heats up, a parallel campaign south of the U.S. border in Mexico is also reaching a crescendo.
Meanwhile, while many Americans have their eyes on President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a minority in the U.S., including in Utah, are turning their attention to Claudia Sheinbaum and Xochitl Gálvez, the two women who are the leading candidates to succeed Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is limited to one term.
Mexicans living abroad have been able to vote in Mexican elections since at least 2006. But Mexican electoral authorities have liberalized the voting process this election, introducing electronic and in-person voting, and about 187,000 people, including in Utah, have gone through the necessary procedures to vote. Voting abroad is ongoing and is scheduled to end on June 2.
Many Mexicans in the U.S. and around the world “are really concerned about what's going on and want to get involved,” said Eduardo Vaca Cuenca, consul general at the Mexican consulate in Salt Lake City. They're still following what's happening in Mexico, have family there and are sending money to their loved ones, he said.
Baca said that for the first time, Mexicans living abroad will be able to vote in person on June 2 in 23 locations around the world, including 20 in the United States, but not in Salt Lake City. Electronic voting from abroad is also available for the first time and is already underway. Around 187,000 Mexicans living abroad have registered and completed the necessary procedures to vote, the majority of whom are in the United States, including in Utah.
Baca said one of the things Mexicans living abroad have been asking for for years was reforms to make it easier for them to vote in Mexican elections, which prompted the early start of the voting process. Mexicans living in Mexico can only vote in person, and the polls will take place on June 2.
“They're saying, 'We contribute to Mexico and its economy, and we should be able to participate in the big decisions about who governs our country,'” Baca said. “And public policy is beginning to reflect the importance of caring for communities abroad, because it's a very large community. They contribute to the Mexican economy.”
According to the Associated Press, Mexicans living abroad, the majority of whom are in the United States, sent $63.3 billion to Mexico in 2023. That's up from $58.5 billion in 2022, according to Mexico's Ministry of the Interior, and accounts for 4% of Mexico's gross domestic product.
There are 187,000 Mexicans living abroad who are eligible and registered to vote (Baca didn't have figures for how many there are in Utah), but they represent a tiny fraction of the country's total expatriate population: The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that as of 2022, there are 10.8 million foreign-born people of Mexican origin in the U.S., including naturalized citizens, legal residents, and illegal immigrants.
Still, Baca said, votes from people living overseas could influence the outcome of a close election. There are two in-person polling places in Texas and eight in California.
Anyone with a Mexican birth certificate can get a voter ID card, whether they're a naturalized U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, illegal immigrant, or have some other immigration status, but they must also provide another type of ID card (a U.S. driver's license will do) and proof of residency. “If you can prove you're Mexican, you can get a voter ID,” Baca said.
Both Sheinbaum and Galvez, the leading candidates in Mexico's presidential election, are women, and are expected to become the country's first female president. Sheinbaum, who is leading the opinion polls, is from the same left-wing Moreno party as incumbent Lopez Obrador. Galvez represents a coalition of political parties.