Thousands cross into Mexico to vote at special polls

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 3, 2006
Photo by SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune

TIJUANA – It took a seven-hour drive from Fresno, then close to three hours standing in line. But María Salomé Hernández wasn't complaining early yesterday morning.

“We're hoping for a better future, for our family members in Mexico,” said the 38-year-old peach-cannery worker and mother of five, as she prepared to cast her ballot in Mexico's presidential election. “We want to find a better president for our country, so that fewer people come across.”

The election prompted thousands to head to Mexico to vote in special polling booths through northern Mexico. In Tijuana, hundreds waited hours to vote in an outdoor polling place just yards from the U.S. border fence at A.L. Rodríguez International Airport.

The snaking line included a large number of legal U.S. residents: former farm workers, young professionals, business owners, students, grandmothers and young couples pushing baby strollers. They came from Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and Chula Vista with ties to all corners of Mexico, from Culiacan to Puerto Vallarta, from Mexico City to Veracruz.