Mexico nears U.S. polling

Mexico City -- Mexico's lawmakers are considering setting up thousands of voting booths on U.S. soil for that country's 2006 presidential vote, a change that could alter politics on both sides of the border and empower nearly 10 million Mexicans in the United States.

The lower house of the Mexican legislature has approved the measure, which also would guide campaigning by Mexican presidential candidates in U.S. cities. The senate could vote on the bill as soon as April.

Mexican lawmakers and political analysts say that even if the proposal fails to become law this year, it's only a matter of time before Mexican immigrants will get to vote in Mexican elections in the U.S.

One of the largest immigrant groups living outside their country of origin, Mexicans in the United States have the power to influence politics back home. But Mexicans in the U.S., who cannot now cast absentee ballots, must return to Mexico to vote.

Growing political savvy, more economic clout and easy communications have combined to turn a group once marginalized by Mexico's establishment politicians into a group they now want to court.

"In Mexico right now, migrants are something sexy. Everybody wants us on their side," said Raul Ross, an immigrant leader in Illinois, and a member of the Coalition for the Political Rights of Mexicans Abroad.

Also significant, experts say, is the likelihood that immigrant voters in the U.S. would be less susceptible to corruption.

The move began as a modest proposal by Mexican President Vicente Fox. Lawmakers from two opposition parties upped the ante, requiring a voting booth for every 750 immigrants on voter rolls.

Nearly 10 million Mexicans age 18 or older live in the U.S. If all of them signed up, Mexican election authorities told their congress, officials would need to install more than 13,000 polling places across the U.S.

Because Mexico allows dual citizenship, many voters also would be U.S. citizens. Millions of others nationwide likely would be undocumented immigrants.

There are precedents, including votes by Iraqis, Russians and Taiwanese living in the U.S., but nothing of this scale.

Anti-immigrant groups and some U.S. lawmakers are raising concerns, and some immigrants and their supporters are wondering if a backlash in the U.S. would hinder other parts of their agenda.

"It's possible that this might make it more difficult to create an agenda for the Hispanic community and the Mexican community in the United States," said Jeffrey Jones, a senator from the Mexican border state of Chihuahua.

For Jose Berumen, who flew back to Mexico to vote in that country's last presidential election five years ago, that's an acceptable price to finally get a voice in Mexico's future.

"I do care about the United States. I've lived longer here than there," said Berumen, who runs an electronics installation business in Denver and holds dual citizenship.

But "my roots are from there. I still have family there. It's important to me to have Mexico better itself."

Some Mexican senators have balked at the cost, which could reach $250 million. Others worry about voting in places where Mexico's election officials have limited reach. The proposal likely would require Mexico to send hundreds of election officials to the U.S. for months.

"Everything can be solved," said Eliana Garcia, a congresswoman from the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) in the lower house, where all but 5 of 396 lawmakers who voted supported the bill.

As written, the legislation requires the Mexican government to sign agreements with local and national officials in the U.S., who would vouch for the safety of Mexican candidates and election security, something even supporters say may be unrealistic.

"Los Angeles isn't going to sign something like that. They don't want to be responsible for our election process. They don't want to have to worry if someone robs a ballot box," said Primitivo Rodriguez, who is coordinating the lobbying effort for immigrant groups in Mexico City.

Proponents say the vote by U.S. Iraqis in that country's recent elections could be a model.

"All you have to do is tell the police or the mayor, 'We're going to have an election on this date, there will be so many polling stations, we expect this many people,' " said Carlos Olamendi, a businessman and immigrant leader from California.

"It's the same thing they do in Los Angeles when they have a Cinco de Mayo parade."

Mexican senators are considering limiting the vote -- and costs - - to the roughly 4 million Mexicans in the U.S. with voter registration cards, which have been issued since the early 1990s.

"To us, the fact that someone would have a voting card from Mexico is an indication that they still have contact with Mexico," said Jones.

That more limited proposal may offer a compromise for skeptical Mexican lawmakers and immigrant leaders in the U.S. who are demanding political recognition of their growing contribution to Mexico's economy.

Last year, Mexicans in the U.S. sent $16 billion to family members back home, one of the largest sources of foreign income for Mexico.

And economic power translates into political clout.

Mexican candidates come to the U.S. to debate and raise money. They hand out phone cards so supporters can lobby family members back home.

At a national meeting in Chicago in February, Fox's National Action Party launched a U.S. wing. The PRD operates in California, Texas, Illinois and other states.

Next year's election is expected to be close, and analysts say if the voting bill is approved, the major parties are likely to launch full-fledged U.S. campaigns, with flag-waving rallies starring Mexican presidential candidates.

The immigrants already "are lobbying and putting on pressure very much in the American style. These guys are launching e-mail campaigns and writing letters," said Patricia Hamm, a Mexico expert at Iowa State University.

"It could be the beginning of a very significant change."

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