Last Day to Qualify to Vote in the Elections

To be a voter in Mexico, you have to have your voter credential (IFE), a card about the size of a driver’s license, which is an almost universal form of identification. Today is the last day to sign up for a voter’s credential if a citizen wants to vote in the elections on November 20 and in Guerrero’s gubernatorial election in January of 2011. In not unexpected style, most people have waited until the last minute to sign up, and so the lines are miserably long. Of course, the people who waited until the last minute are complaining and protesting, blaming the incompetence on the government. Election districts 4 and 9 in Acapulco will stay open until midnight to handle the traffic. Priority is given to women with small children or who are pregnant, persons over 60 and persons with disabilities. Each district is receiving about 500 applications per day to issue or change a voting credential. Today's crowd is several times that much. For many of the poorest in Acapulco the IFE card has an economic benefit, as many political organizations will buy the use of the card on election day in exchange for money, food, drink or something of value. The average price of a vote in Acapulco, at least in local elections, is said to be around $100 pesos.