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Saturday, June 24, 2006
Mexican expatriates can vote across border

By VIK JOLLY
The Orange County Register

Mexican expatriates who didn't register to vote by mail in the July 2 presidential election still can travel to border towns to cast their ballots.

But they better show up early - the special booths where they can vote only have a limited number of ballots - 750 each.

"There will be more people interested in voting than the ballots issued to these booths," said Patricio Ballados Villagomez, Mexico's coordinator for voting abroad.

Although the booths can accommodate expatriates, they originally were set up for domestic voters who for whatever reason could not vote in their home districts.

The number of ballots is limited because these booths have fewer security measures compared with a regular polling place, Ballados Villagomez said in an interview. Approximately 700 special booths will be set up throughout the country.

This is the first time that Mexico has allowed voting abroad by absentee ballot. Anyone who attempts to vote twice by showing up in person - having already cast a ballot by mail - will be arrested and prosecuted, Ballados Villagomez said.

LOW REGISTRATION


As of Tuesday, nearly 27,381 expatriates - 67percent of those who registered in advance - already had voted by absentee ballot.

Data from about 50 countries that allow absentee voting from abroad showed that an average of 36 percent who pre-registered actually returned the ballots, said elections official Patricio Ballados Villagomez in a telephone interview from Mexico City.

"So Mexico is actually in the countries of higher turnout of percentages," he said.

Relatively few people signed up to vote from abroad before the Jan. 15 deadline - 40,876 from 80 countries. Election officials estimate about 4 million were eligible to vote from the United States.

WHAT'S NEXT

Overseas votes will be accepted in Mexico until 8 a.m. local time on July 1.

General voting will be begin at 8 a.m. on Election Day, July 2, and close at 6 p.m., which is when the counting of both the absentee and in-country ballots will begin.

Results are expected after 11:30 p.m.

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CONTACT US: vjolly@ocregister.com or (714) 796-7043
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