With reporting by Alex Garland
Lines wrapped around the block and hundreds were turned away as voters in the country’s national election thronged the Consulado de México en Seattle on Capitol Hill Sunday.
Some of those lining up to register and vote reported a day-long wait to participate and said the consulate only had four booths to handle thousands of citizens from Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington as the consulate in Portland was not opened to be part of the day of polling.
More than 98 million voters were eligible to cast a ballot Sunday in Mexico with 1.4 million Mexicans eligible to vote abroad, CNN reports.
Lines began forming in the early hours Sunday outside the consulate on Harvard Ave E just off Broadway. The consulate moved its offices to the converted Harvard Exit movie theater in 2018.
Many frustrated Mexican voters Sunday in Seattle blamed the country’s Instituto Nacional Electoral for the polling day debacle and said the difficult voting conditions could suppress the total for ruling leftist Morena party’s Claudia Sheinbaum and help hand the race to Xochitl Gálvez, the conservative PAN party leader running as a coalition candidate.
Seattle consulate officials warned those in line they could not chant at the polling location after a pro-Morena song began.
This election season has been especially bloody. CNN says dozens of political candidates and applicants have been killed by criminal organizations “trying to influence those coming into power.”
Meanwhile, Mexico has never elected a woman president.
With hundreds still in line, the Seattle consulate closed its doors and shut down polling at 5:30 PM. They joined thousands around the world in other cities whose votes were not cast Sunday.
Hundreds wait for an opportunity to vote at the Mexican Consulate. 4 voting machines for thousands of people from WA, OR, ID, and AK. People are angry and a gathering is planned at 530 when voting ends. Blame being placed on EINE, the voting organization in Mexico. pic.twitter.com/yiL4ZRLAiu
— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) June 2, 2024
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Thank you for reporting on this important story. Democracy matters to people; voting is important.
Thank you for this coverage, this is a crucial election year around the world!
Felicidades Mexico! Claudia Sheimbaum Pardo, new president of Mexico. Step up USA!
I was wondering how many folks would make their way up to cast a ballot, very cool!
Wow, all respect to these folks, coming from as far away as Alaska to vote! It puts to shame citizens here who can’t even bother to return a ballot mailed right to their home.
CHS got a nice shout out from KUOW this morning when they referenced this story as the source for their story about Mexican expats voting in Seattle. KUOW first referenced CHS as a blog, but when they mentioned it a second time, they referred to it as ‘the paper’, which I thought was funny. Has this blog ever been anything other than digital?
BTW, Viva Mexico!
Given she won with 58% of the vote vs 26% for Galvez, this idea that there was voter suppression that could throw the election to Galvez seems like it needs an update.
What? The story was about the large crowd that turned up to vote at the consulate, it wasn’t about the election itself. If the zeitgeist amongst the people who showed up to vote was that this was malfeasance or conspiracy, then its okay to print that because it’s about the what the crowd, the subject of the article, was thinking. The blog isn’t actually reporting on election irregularities. Though that should have been made more clear.