Picking the president of Mexico

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2005 | 8:34 a.m.

Jorge Luna, in the United States for three months, was thinking about how voting for president of Mexico in April could help farmers in his home state of Campeche.

Standing outside the Mexican consulate downtown, he had just picked up a form he needed to send by registered mail to his home country before Jan. 15 in order to receive an absentee ballot. It will be the first time that Mexicans abroad will be able to vote, and Luna wasn't going to miss out.

"I just got here and I know how things are in Mexico," he said, shaking his head. "Farmers are abandoned by the government, and they need to be paid better for their crops."

That's why Luna, 24, came here, where a job at Panda Express is the cornerstone of his new life. He said he would be thinking of his family -- parents, brothers and sisters -- in the southern tip of Mexico when he casts his vote.

The first-time campaign for voting abroad adds another item to the growing list of ways in which Mexicans and Mexican-Americans lead dual lives of sorts, participating in politics, economy and culture on both sides of the border.

Alonso Flores organized a meeting in October with leaders of 11 local clubs representing immigrants from different states in Mexico to plan a strategy for getting the word out about the campaign. Flores thinks Mexicans living here will eventually get used to voting in both countries.

"I see no problem with the possibility of having two lives -- my own heart is divided in two," said Flores, who has lived in the United States for 18 years.

But Flores' -- and Luna's -- enthusiasm has not yet caught on.

According to Mexican Consul Mariano Lemus Gas, two months after registration began and weeks away from the deadline, only 4,500 voters -- of an estimated 4.4 million eligible voters across the United States -- had sent forms to Mexico's elections bureau.

Still, Lemus Gas said: "I wouldn't say it (voting abroad) has been a failure. I think there needs to be more time to convince people to participate."

Noting that there is "more than one kind of Mexican," he pointed out that factors include how long the individuals have been out of the country, what level of schooling they reached in Mexico and their successes or failures in the United States.

"Many people who have been here a long time identify more with this country," he said.

At the consulate on a recent morning, Ernesto Gutierrez was among the dozens who sought documents needed to make Christmas trips back home. His plane left about 12 hours after he obtained the consular identification with its freshly snapped photo.

Gutierrez appeared to be the exception to the consul's example, since he has lived in the United States 12 of his 23 years, but also picked up the brochure explaining what he would need to cast a ballot once he was back in Las Vegas.

He said he would have to register to vote once he got to his home state of Guadalajara -- if he could get it done in the few weeks of vacation that he was taking from his job framing new houses.

Lemus Gas said many Mexicans living in this country had never registered to vote in the past because it took up to a month to complete the process. Now, however, getting the card is speedier.

Gutierrez said he was interested in voting "in order to bring about some change."

Asked what he meant, he said: "More work. ... Less corruption."

Flores said he hopes that having Mexicans voting from abroad eventually brings about a new country where people do not have to leave in order to survive.

"Something has to happen to stabilize Mexico's economy so that emigrating isn't necessary," he said.

The consul said the first go-round with voting from abroad may be less than overwhelming, noting that $30 million was spent on administrating and promoting the program.

But Lemus Gas also said Mexico is "the country of extensions," meaning people are used to putting things off to the last minute, and may flood the consulate the first week of January.

"That's just part of the culture," he said.

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or at timothy@lasvegassun.com.