Photo Journal - Mexican Elections 2018

Here are a few photos from the election in Calakmul, Campeche. I joined the Red Universitaria y Ciudadana por la Democracia that fielded more than 300 electoral observers throughout the country, one of the largest delegations in this year's election.

The level of citizen engagement inspired me. Mexico does not have absentee balloting for people living inside the country. My younger friends traveled home from college to cast their votes. At each polling site, there were seventeen people holding one official position or another monitoring the process. Dozens of onlookers, mostly young people, also watched events closely by peering into windows.

Special thanks to the staff at the offices of the Instituto Electoral del Estado de Campeche in Xpujil. They were unfailingly helpful and polite. Mil gracias al personal de IEEC en Xpujil. Siempre me atendieron con cortesía y respeto.

Anthropologists make for excellent electoral observers. All that participant-observation served as great training! Thank you to fellow anthropologist Julia Murphy who spent the day with me, sharing her training from her own stint as an election observer with Global Exchange back in 2006. I couldn't have done it without her support!

ballots and voting materials on their way to polling sites

The big brown box is part of the election day “paquete.” It’s filled with the collapsible voting booths and other materials necessary for voting day. Ballots traveled with these materials in cars carefully monitored by police to assure no ballots were stolen before they reached their destination.

voting materials at poll worker's home

The “paquetes” remained in the homes of local poll workers during the four days prior to the election. Poll workers were chosen by lottery, assuring a range of citizen participation in the election. Housing a “paquete” was an incredible responsibility.

the presidential ballot

I loved the colorfulness of this ballot. It would be hard to confuse one party for another and cast a mistaken choice.

Voters marked their preference for a party or for more than one party, as some parties had formed coalitions. Andrés Manuel López Obrador won this presidential election. Because he ran in a coalition, he is listed on the ballot as the candidate for multiple parties.

crowds monitoring the voting underway

Most of the polling places in Calakmul were located in primary schools. Outside each of the polling sites, crowds of onlookers watched events over the course of the day and into the night to assure fair voting.

Photo credit: Julia Murphy

political party reps also monitored events

With their state-issued voter lists, party reps checked off who voted, monitored whether the number of ballots matched their voter count, and signed off on the official forms that reported the day’s activities and vote counts.

the most exciting part of the day!

The picture is blurry, but here a poll worker holds up a ballot for party reps and the onlookers at the window. If anyone thought the vote was miscount, they immediately spoke up. Ballots were displayed one-by-one before being placed on a state-issued board on the schoolroom floor. As the ballots piled up, the tick-tack-toe style board lent a visual message of the outcome.

ballot counting lasted well past midnight

As the ballot count wore on into the night, this outdoor polling place transformed into a magical site.

Photo credit: Julia Murphy