Americans in Mexico eager to vote in the election
According to the State department at least one million Americans live in Mexico, thousands of them cross back and forth between El Paso and Juarez every day. Just like any other American citizens those living in Mexico have a right to vote, and it looks like El Pasoans living outside the county want their voices heard.
“We’ve gotten almost 12,000 requests, so we have gotten a lot. We have I think over 5,000 ballots returned already,” said Lisa Wise, the El Paso County Elections Administrator.
Wise said that’s more than double the number of absentee ballots requested in the 2012 elections, and those El Pasoans –wherever they are in the world– must take into account the longer travel time of international post and see that their vote is in this office by election day.
“It’s very important because otherwise it won’t count, the law doesn’t have any wiggle room on that, we follow very closely what the code says. So once the deadline, so once the deadline is met then that’s the end of it ,” Wise explained.
There are three ways to vote if you’re an American living in Juarez. The first, and frankly the slowest, is to bring a filled-out ballot to a post office, pay for international postage, and have them send it all the way into the US. The second and easiest way is to bring your filled-out ballot here, to the US consulate in Juarez, and have them mail it in for you. The third and best way to make sure that your vote is counted on time is to simply just walk on over and cast your ballot in the neighborhood in which you’re registered
“I’m voting in person, my parents are voting in person, my brother is voting in person, some friends are voting like, right here at UTEP,” said Camila Hernandez, one of hundreds of UTEP students who live in our sister city.
She’s been a US citizen for the past four years, and is making sure her vote counts.
“We are the future of the country and we should learn that, starting from now, that we’re able to vote, we should go out there and let our voices be heard,” Camila said.
El Paso voters like Camila are set to exercise their right to vote — whether in El Paso, from Juarez or beyond.
The deadline to request an absentee ballot was this past Friday, so voters who didn’t do it have no option but to cast their ballot in person.
Early voting runs through Friday. Election day is Tuesday, November 8th.
Click here to check if you’re registered to vote in El Paso County.
