Mexican nationals in Chicago get to vote for the first time to elect Mexico's president

Mercedes Guzman is voting Sunday for the first time — in Mexico's historic presidential election.

Guzman, who lives in West Pullman, planned to cast her ballot at the Consulate General of Mexico on South Ashland Avenue.

Like thousands of Mexican nationals in the Chicago area, she is excited to cast her ballot.

“I registered to vote in person because I really wanted to be there,” said Guzman, 41, speaking in Spanish. "I have never participated.

Originally from Michoacan, she planned to vote with her 74-year-old mother, who is visiting from Mexico, and said, “The moment is very emotional.”

This election marks the first time that Mexicans abroad are being allowed to vote by mail, electronically or in person at 23 locations around the world, including several U.S cities.

After Los Angeles, Chicago has the second-highest number of Mexicans registered to vote in the country, followed by New York City, according to Eduardo Puga of the National Electoral Institute, or INE, Mexico's highest electoral authority. Puga says 10,560 Mexicans in the Chicago area registered to vote.

For the first time, two women are the top candidates in Mexico. Claudia Sheinbaum has been ahead in pre-election polls and would be expected to continue the policies of President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, who's leaving office. She's also the first Jewish candidate to run in the predominantly Catholic country.

Xóchitl Gàlvez, Sheinbaum’s main challenger, has been a fierce critic of Lopez Obrador. Trailing the two women is Jorge Álvarez Máynez, who represents the Citizen Movement Party.

Many Mexican nationals living in Chicago say the issues most important to them include economic and social benefits for senior citizens, education, U.S.-Mexico relations and safety.

“I really feel very proud,” Puga said in Spanish. “The INE has opened this wide range of possibilities to [Mexican] citizens. I also have family members who will be able to exercise their vote.”

Experts say Mexicans living abroad are paying closer attention to the political landscape in their home country. That’s particularly meaningful, says Lilia Fernandez, a University of Illinois Chicago history professo, “when many are not able to vote here in Chicago and local state or federal elections because either of undocumented status or because they’re not U.S. citizens.

“Mexicans are a significant part of Chicago,” Fernandez said. “They provide an enormous amount of the labor here in the workforce, and unfortunately they think they really are underrepresented and do not have the kind of political empowerment that they could have.”