Yorch Place

In Mexico the elections are still the hot topic, many people outside have several opinions, mainly because of manipulation from the parties, and many people doen't even know how elections work in Mexico, here it is:

- First of all the mexican elections every single vote counts, we don't have electoral votes, only people votes (great!)
- In order to be able to vote people must have 18 years old, and a voting card (Credencial de Elector), the credential is the most trusted id in the country, is standar in all the country, it has your voter id number, finger print, photo, magnetic band and bar code. Credentials are made in a super secure factory.
- The elections are organized by a non goverment agency, the IFE is formed by several council members, part of the are citizens and the others are parti representatives.
- Several months before the election the IFE publish the Nominal Lists, your name and number must appear in the list, or you will not be able to vote, the main reasons why you don't appear in the list are:
a) you reported your credential stolen or lost
b) you just get your credential
c) you where reported dead
d) a human mistake
That is why they publish the lists on the internet and phisical lists in several public buildings, you must present a complain to be in the list again.
- The IFE in a raffle choose a month of the year, and all people who hold a voters credential that was born in that month is called to became a citizen working in the polling table, you can accept or decline, if you accept, you can be President, Secretary, First Vote counter or Second Vote counter.
- The parties ask among their members for representatives, people who is going to be present all election day in every poll table.
- The president of every single table receives all the material, ink, boxes, voting paper, pencils, etc.
- At 8:00am and no earlier or later every polling table must start to setup
- To vote people are in line, every polling place has several tables, each one asigned to last names.
- When you arrive to vote, you show your credential and in that moment the citizens of the table (president, secretary, etc.) search your name in their nominal list, and party members do the same in their own nominal list, in the list there is your photo, finger print and data, and it must be the same that is in your card.
- When they find you you pass to vote, while your credential is marked as "voted" and in all the nominal list they marked "voted"
- After you vote your finger is mark with special ink, which is not ink is a kind of acid that burns your skin, this way you are marked and unable to clean, unless you take your skin (it doesn't hurt)
- You put your vote in a crystal box (is not crystal but transparent) so you can see there are no extra votes there.
- You take your voter card and go home
- At the end of day the president closes the polling table, and open the boxes, they check that people doesn't mistake the boxes (put president votes in senate, or deputies).
- They separete the votes in order, by what job and what party, everything infront of party representatives.
- The first vote counter made the first count out loud, so everybody can hear, yelling the name of the candidate or the name of the party, so party members count too.
- The second vote counter made the second count, the same way, if there is a change they repeat the two counts until they are even.
- Party members they can ask for more counts until they are happy with everything.
- After the count the vote counters sign, the president and secretary sign and finally the party members sign everything was ok and they agree with the counts.
- Every member of the parties gets a copy of all the documents and counting results.
- The president publish a giant copy of the results in the door of the polling place.
- The president takes the papers to the IFE offices
- In the IFE offices other citizens that are appointed to help, capture the data on a database known as PREP, preliminary results, this is fast typing they have to capture a lot of paper, that is why there are mistakes, mainly typing mistakes, but the PREP is not the official result.
- After the PREP three days later the IFE checks all the documents with all the party representatives, if some party has a doubt or the calligraphy is not readable they open the box and recount the votes in front of all party members and media.
- After the oficial count the parties can put a complain to the Tribunal Federal Electoral, a body of seven judges that are part of the judicial power that will declare the election to be valid and then proclaim a winner.
- After a month of work by the Tribunal they finally declare who is president.

Our process was made to avoid corruption and fraud, since citizens and no goverment organize the voting, and party members and citizens count the votes, parties have a copy of everything, it is impossible to commit fraud, since you have to pay mony to at least 2 million people to be able to do that.

That is why Mr. Obrador allegation of fraud is not taken seriously, because even media are present in the voting polls, and international observers.

Elections are over, and we all (mexicans) waited to know who will be our next president, half of the country against Obrador and another part with him, the idea was that on sunday at 11pm we will knew who was the winner, but the elections where to close, extremly close, with the PREP (preliminar results) already publish the virtual winner is Calderon, by the big difference of 1.04% but the final results will be pulish on wednesday, until then, we don't know who is the next president.

By the way Obrador (the oposite to Calderon) is already making plans to protest, he is such a disgusting guy, he says that everybody is against him, well we don't want a crazy in the presidential chair. I hope he accepts the results because he has a history of problems, when he was in the PRI (old corrupt dictatorial party) he make a protest because his own party did not put him as candidate to be governor of Tabasco and then he join the PRD (New party formed by old PRI members), he is a trouble maker, he manipulate poor people.

As you may guess (look my other posts) I live in Mexico, in the great city of Querétaro, and in my country we are in election time, hate it, when politicians make promises, some of them (politicians) want to do it, some don't... Look this article I read, is good and shows why in my state and city the PAN still wins.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/25/Worldandnation/Economy_stars_in_Mexi.shtml

Economy stars in Mexico's vote
Mexicans who ask whether they’re better off than they were six years ago head to polls Sunday.

By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent
Published June 25, 2006


QUERETARO, Mexico — The narrow colonial streets in the heart of this historic city are a vivid reminder of Mexico’s rich cultural heritage...