Strict requirements, insufficient information and lack of public interest handicapped Mexico's first attempt at absentee voting, according to a new study by the Pew Hispanic Center. Just 57,000 of three-million eligible Mexicans living abroad registered to vote in the upcoming presidential election. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has details.
The Pew survey found more than half of Mexicans living in the United States were not aware that a presidential election is taking place in Mexico this July and few were aware of the absentee registration requirements.
61-percent said they didn't know enough about Mexican politics to vote. But just 28-percent said Mexico's elections aren't important to them.
However, the study's author, Gabriel Escobar, says Mexican expatriate's connection to home is not political.
Escobar: "They return often. They call often. And they send lots of money. But there isn't that level of interest in the political activities of the country."
Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed also said lacking a valid voting credential - something that can only be obtained in Mexico - was a major stumbling block to participating.
The registration deadline passed last month. Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
