Mexico presidential election: Chicago Mexicans to vote in-person at consulate for 1st time
Mexican voters set to make history with expected election of female president
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago community activist Jorge Mujica looked at the latest polls for the Mexican presidential election on Friday.
Mujica supports the leading candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum. The former mayor of Mexico City is a left-wing populist who served in President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador's cabinet.
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"What Claudia has presented to the public, to Mexicans, is the continuation of what Lopez Obrador has done, basically dedicating most of the budget to social benefits," Mujica said.
If Sheinbaum wins, she will not only be Mexico's first female president, but the first Jewish president in a mostly Catholic country. If she loses, Mexico will likely still make history. Her main opponent is another woman, Xóchitl Gàlvez, a critic of the current administration.
"Well, that makes me very proud, especially because I wish there could have been a woman first in the United States. So as a president now, they're going to be ahead of us," said Wright College Professor Javier Salas.
Salas supports Gàlvez. He says she is the right candidate to end violence with the cartels. Either way, Salas says, a female president will help all Mexican women.
"I think being a woman is going to give them, for certainty, that many women are going to have more rights in Mexico," Salas said.
While the election is historic, so is the way people living abroad can vote.
"This coming Sunday is going to be the first time in Chicago Mexicans are going to consulate and participate in-person," Mujica said.
But there is a limited space. About 1,300 Mexicans are pre-registered to vote in-person. There are 1,500 extra ballots for those who didn't pre-register. Mexicans living abroad can also vote by mail or electronically. Eduardo Puga with Mexico's National Electoral Institute ensures voting in Chicago is safe.
"The National Electoral Institute will always guarantee, through all means, that each of the citizens' votes counts," Puga said.
The Mexican Consulate doors open at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday and close when the polls close in Mexico. Long lines are expected. More than 2,500 people may vote in-person at the consulate.
