“We’re starting to panic,” remarked a gray-haired gentleman standing in a long line of folks who showed up last Tuesday at the Lake Chapala Society (LCS).
Without revealing his political leanings, he gave a telltale sign that U.S. citizens residing at Lakeside are aware that time is running out to vote in the presidential election, now just six weeks away.
For many years, the local chapter of Democrats Abroad has been the go-to group for assistance in voter registration and filing requests for absentee ballots. Volunteers provide valuable guidance in procedures that differ in each of the 50 states and U.S. territories. Citizens who live abroad need to get a head start to be sure ballots are filed to meet established deadlines.
Larry Pihl, chairman of Democrats Abroad Lake Chapala Chapter and Mexico chairman for Get Out The Vote (GOTV), urges voters to register as soon as possible at votefromabroad.org. Absentee ballots may be obtained from state election officials via email. Some even allow you to send them back the same way. If not, the fastest way to get documents into the U.S. mail is by diplomatic pouch sent from the nearest U.S. Consulate, or through a mail-forwarding company that ships correspondence to the states every few days.
At Lakeside, registration forms and completed ballots can be left at LCS for delivery to Guadalajara’s U.S. Consulate General.
Pihl is also spearheading a nationwide reach-out campaign aimed at Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens. He calculates that if every U.S. citizen in living Mexico casts a ballot, this country could bring in about one-quarter of the total overseas votes. “There may be as many as a half million Spanish-speakers born or naturalized in the States who do not know that have a right to vote,” he observes.
With that in mind, Pihl hooked up with Luke Betts of ADMIX Digital, a publicity company in Mexico City, and they came up with a plan to fill the airwaves in the major Mexican cities with Spanish-language get-out-the-vote messages and ways to assist these potential voters connect with Democrats Abroad.
Democrats Abroad is a full “state” committee within the DNC representing all Democrats living outside of the United States. During a May trip to the “state” Democrats Abroad convention in Berlin, Germany, he broached the idea with the leadership and was able to come up some funds for a pilot project.
Since Betts had spent some time working in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon and because that area has a high concentration of U.S. citizens, they chose that city to test their plan. A media blitz of 210 radio spots over four days (September 7-10) were aired and further promotion was done on WhatsApp. Pihl and others helped about 100 Spanish-speaking citizens who showed up at the hotel they were using to register.
“We learned a lot,” he says. “The program needs a Spanish-language site for these people to register on. About half of the folks who showed up would not have been able to deal with the voter registration website on their own. They were really grateful for the help. Some were driving along when they heard the radio announcement and turned around to head to the hotel to register.”
Pihl noted that they got some press coverage for the event in El Norte, the major Spanish-language daily in Nuevo Leon, as well as some radio interviews. Ilona de Borhegyi, an Ajijic-based bilingual Democrat and two others from Mexico City also give interviews on air about the project.
A smaller English-language ad campaign was carried out in Mexico City, with registration offered during a BBQ event at Pinche Gringo restaurant.
A voter assistance effort geared for Spanish-speakers will take place Saturday, September 24, 1 to 4 p.m., at a private home located at Ramon Corona 97 in Jocotepec. Interested persons may contact Francisco and Silva Flores at 333-107-7609, for details.
English-speakers may request additional GOTV information by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">.