Mexico has a presidential election every six years. The U.S.A. has a presidential election every four years.
Therefore, every 12 years, Mexico and the U.S. have elections the same year. This year, 2024, is one of those years.
Election Day in the U.S.A. is scheduled for November 5th. The two major candidates are Joe Biden and Donald Trump, in a rematch from four years ago.
Election Day in Mexico is scheduled for June 2nd. The two major candidates are Claudia Sheinbaum and Xochitl Galvez. (Click here for background information on the candidates).
Since both Mexico and the U.S. have a presidential election this year, it is interesting to compare and contrast elections in the two countries.
The remainder of this article is an updated version of an article I wrote for Mexconnect.com 12 years ago, in 2012, the previous year the two countries had elections the same year. The article was entitled Elections in Mexico and the US: Comparisons and contrasts.
SIMILARITIES
In both countries, candidates appeal to the voters. They campaign publicly across the country with personal appearances, campaign signs, and radio and TV ads. They make promises, they dispute with their opponents, and take part in debates. There are opinion polls, and pundits in the media discuss the election.
On Election Day, voters go to the polls and choose the president by secret ballot. In both countries, elections for Congress are simultaneously held, plus gubernatorial and legislative elections in various states.
DIFFERENCES
Elections in the U.S. are held on Tuesdays, elections in Mexico on Sundays.
In the U.S., a president can be elected to two presidential terms, for a total of eight years. In Mexico, the president is barred from reelection, so he serves for six years and then can’t run again.
The United States has an Electoral College system, which apportions votes to states, depending upon their respective populations. That’s why election reports, maps and state-by-state reports are so critical.
In Mexico the winner is chosen nationally, by plurality. Whichever candidate has a plurality of the votes — not necessarily a majority — is the winner.
Due to the existence of the Electoral College in the US, elections are handled at the state level. It’s as if there are 51 simultaneous elections taking place in the 50 states and District of Columbia. There is a Federal Election Commission, but it oversees campaign finance.
In Mexico, the election is truly a unitary national election, overseen by INE, the Instituto Nacional Electoral. There is also a special electoral court system, the TEPJF (Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación).
In the United States, the presidential election is held in early November (the 5th this year) and the winner takes office the following January 20th. Although that’s only two and a half months later, Inauguration Day falls in a different calendar year than the election. That’s confusing to some people.
This year in Mexico, the election is scheduled for June 2nd and the winner is set to take office on October 1st, both dates in 2024.
CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS
Although the presidential race gets more attention, congressional elections are important in both countries. There are similarities and differences.
Each country has a bicameral Congress. In the US, the two chambers are known as the Senate and the House of Representatives. In Mexico, they are the Senado and the Cámara de Diputados.
The US Congress has 100 senators (two for each state) and 435 representatives. The Mexican Congress has 128 senadores and 500 diputados.
In the US, every single representative must be elected or reelected every two years, while senators have six-year terms. That means every two years, a third of the senators are up for election.
In Mexico, diputados are elected for three-year terms and senadores for six-year terms. The term of a senador is concurrent with that of the president. So all senadores are up for a vote this year. And so are all the diputados this year, for three-year terms.
Congressional mid-term elections in the US occur at two-year intervals. There was a mid-term election in 2022, and another one is scheduled for 2026.
In Mexico, the mid-terms are every three years. There was a mid-term election in 2021, and another is scheduled for 2027.
In the US Congress, every senator represents a state and every representative represents a district.
In Mexico, it’s a little more complicated.
In the Cámara de Diputados, 300 of the 500 diputados are elected by their districts, while 200 are chosen through proportional representation. In proportional representation, seats are allocated based on the percentage of votes received by a political party nationwide.
In the Mexican Senado, there are three senadores from each of Mexico’s 31 states, and three from Mexico City.
Political parties run candidates for the Senado in pairs. The pair which receives the most votes is elected to the Senado to represent that particular state. The state’s other senador is from the political party that came in second in that state’s senatorial election.
All these senadores account for 96 of the total. The other 32 are chosen by proportional representation, based on the nationwide vote.
VOTER REGISTRATION AND VOTER ID
Mexico’s voter registration and voter ID system is much tighter than that of the US.
In the U.S., much depends on the state. The federal government does not require states to require documentation to prove citizenship for those registering to vote.
On an election day, 14 states and the District of Columbia don’t require identification of any kind from the voters. Only 13 U.S. states require photo voter ID.
In Mexico, voters must provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote.
Each Mexican voter is provided with a government-supplied voter ID card, which includes the voter’s photograph, fingerprints, and a holographic image. The voter must produce this card when showing up to vote.
The polling station workers have a book with the photograph of every single voter in the precinct. They can check that book against the photo on the ID card. After voting, the voter’s thumb is smudged with ink, to prevent repeat voting. (The ink wears off after a few days).
I have observed Mexican voting firsthand, although of course, as a U.S. citizen I did not vote in Mexico.
I find the Mexican voter registration system impressive and superior to ours. We can learn from Mexico, and it would be beneficial for U.S. states to adopt elements of the Mexican voter registration system.
CONCLUSION
The U.S. and Mexico both have elections this year. A comparative study of the two nations’ voting systems is interesting and instructive. By learning how the other country votes, we can better understand what is going on there.