A vote for migrants

Last Thursday, Mexican representatives and senators finally approved something that seemed impossible: Mexicans living abroad will be able to obtain their electoral identification document at Mexican consulates and embassies around the world.

This is a victory for hundreds of Mexican who for years have been taking their fight to those legislative bodies. The vote abroad was insufficient if not accompanied by a mechanism that allowed, for example, undocumented immigrants to process this documentation in the United States, instead of a complex postal process that many did not trust.

This was the reason for low migrant participation in prior elections.

One consideration that paralyzed the process in Mexico was the particular position of consulates and embassies, bodies that claimed they did not have the resources or the facilities to issue credentials on a large scale.

It seems that this bump in the road has been overcome.

Now it is up to the National Electoral Institute (INE) to finalize the process as soon as possible. Many challenges remain, including funding the foreign service and providing a way to conduct the vote.

The struggle is not over. Voting by post or internet will be on the table, and neither option satisfies the needs of Mexican immigrants.

The INE should conduct a thorough study and exhaust all possibilities to show that a “physical vote” by Mexicans abroad in consulates or embassies is impossible.

If this is not done, they will not be delivering the “whole enchilada,” but rather a mere sweet that, this time, will leave Mexicans even more upset.