Tensions ran high outside the Mexican consulate in downtown Los Angeles Sunday as crowds gathered hoping to participate in Mexico's historic presidential elections.
The scene was one of chaos and confusion as voters, many of whom had not pre-registered online, faced hurdles in their efforts to cast ballots.
The consular headquarters in Los Angeles closed its doors at 5 p.m., causing outrage among voters who had been waiting for hours to vote in Mexico's historic elections.
"The system shuts down automatically at 5:30," confirmed Leobardo Mendoza from the Mexican consulate. Officials have no control over the system and escorted the last group of voters inside by 5 PM to ensure they can vote.
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Aury Mubarck, who arrived at the consulate at 5 AM, expressed her frustration with the disorganized process. "I think it should be better organized and, as Mexicans, we deserve the right to have better elections and a better process," said Murbarck.
Two separate queues snaked around the building, one for pre-registered voters and another for those who showed up overnight without prior registration. The frustration among the latter group mounted as they learned that only 1,500 ballots were available for non-registered voters.
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"It's too little! Only 1,500, that's nothing! At least 5,000, something like that," said one of the hopeful voters.
According to the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles, approximately 1,362 people had registered to vote in advance.
The consulate office served as an in-person polling station for thousands of Mexican nationals living in Los Angeles and voting abroad. Extra-territorial voting, introduced in 2006, saw more than 32,000 Mexican citizens vote from other countries that year. This year, applications to vote from abroad have surged to more than a quarter of a million, according to a report from UC San Diego.
The National Electoral Insititute (INE) reported that 258,461 people will be voting from abroad in this year's Mexican elections. Out of that total Mexican men requested registration in the Nominal List of Electorates Abroad through the following methods: 151,989 electronic, 56,249 postal, 15,723 in-person and 1,500 vote without registration at consular offices.
Elizabeth Cruz, voting in a Mexican presidential election for the first time, said she was motivated to vote due to the on going violence in Mexico. "There's a lot of violence, especially against women, and in general, with the cartels and all of that," she said, expressing her desire for a female leader to bring about positive change.
Israel Concha, who traveled from Las Vegas, felt fortunate to have made it inside.
"We even picked the option of voting online, but there was a glitch with the system, so we did not qualify. Voting by mail also had problems, so this was the last option," said Concha.
For the crowds gathered today, the effort to vote is about having a say in their homeland's future, with so much at stake and the hope for a better tomorrow.
In Orange County, the Consulate office in Santa Ana, reported technical issues of two computers, which delayed the voting process for nationals that also showed up early to cast their vote.
