Mexico Requires Voter ID`s
``Mexico’s national voter IDs part of culture``
Boosts country’s democracy
Mexican officials unveiled the voting ID two decades ago to properly identify electors in a country with a history of voters casting multiple ballots and curious vote counts resulting in charges of fraud — most notoriously in 1988 when a computer crash wiped out early results favoring the opposition.
The credential proved so good at guaranteeing the identification of electors that it became the country’s preferred credential, one now possessed by just about every adult Mexican. Its widespread acceptance deepened democracy, too, by giving credibility to the Federal Electoral Institute, analysts say. The agency was created as an independent agency to oversee federal elections.
“It’s a very important prop for support of that institution,” said Federico Estévez, political science professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. “What people really know about (the electoral institute) is the card.”
The card must be renewed every 10 years. This meant thousands of Mexicans whose cards were expiring had to apply for a new one prior to Jan. 15 if they wanted to vote in the July 1 presidential election, prompting long lines outside agency service centers.
People in the lines were clutching folders of documents needed for renewal: a birth certificate, another form of photo identification and a recent utility bill.``
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