MEXICO CITY — Mexico's Congress approved landmark legislation Tuesday giving citizens outside the country the right to vote by mail in presidential elections, a measure expected to have a significant effect on next year's contest.
The overwhelming 455-6 vote to initiate balloting-by-mail capped a years-long internal debate. Skeptics fear that ballots sent through the mail might be stolen, manipulated or, given Mexico's unreliable mail service, never arrive. Some politicians worried that opposing parties would somehow benefit.
In the end, the Congress bowed to enormous grass-roots pressure, much of it from immigrant groups in the United States demanding the franchise. The bill now goes to President Vicente Fox, who is expected to sign it.
Salvador Garcia, president of the Council of Mexican Federations in Los Angeles, said having the vote would make immigrants "feel more a part of Mexico."
Although no one has exact figures, as many as 10 million Mexican citizens live in the United States, about half of them believed to be legal immigrants, many of whom hold dual citizenship, and about half illegal immigrants. As many as 4 million of these immigrants, both legal and illegal, may be eligible to vote next year, according to estimates by the Mexican Senate.
"We've put so much work into this," said Garcia, who immigrated from Jalisco state in 1983 and now owns a demolition company in Norwalk. "There've been many late nights, many trips, many frustrations. All the politicians who came here made many promises and then would do nothing. Finally, someone took this seriously."
Diana Hull, president of Californians for Population Stabilization, expressed concern about the legislation.
"I think it's all part of erasing the borders in North America," said Hull, a proponent of stricter immigration laws. "I'm opposed to the intrusion of the Mexican government into the United States. I don't want illegal immigrants here to have that vote. They shouldn't even be here."
The law's passage, which came during a special session of Congress, calls for the Federal Electoral Institute to mail ballots to all registered Mexican voters living abroad who request them through consular offices and over the Internet and to count the ones mailed back to Mexico. The balloting-by-mail is modeled after the U.S. absentee system.
