Mexican voters set to make history Sunday with expected election of female president

LOS ANGELES -- Mexico's presidential election is Sunday. And in all likelihood, for the first time ever a woman will be chosen president.

Mexicans abroad in the Bay Area and elsewhere will have a say. They will be able to vote at Mexican consulates, such as the ones in San Francisco and San Jose.

"I think this election is going to be the most historic of all," said Francisco Moreno Castillo, executive director of the Council of Mexican Federations in North America.

The two leading candidates are women: Claudia Sheinbaum, who is backed by current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. And the opposition candidate is Xóchitl Gálvez. The third candidate is Jorge Álvarez Máynez.

This will be the first year that eligible Mexican citizens can vote in a presidential election in person outside of Mexico.

"We are really happy more people are getting involved in Mexican democracy," Moreno said.

Moreno's nonprofit COFEM organization helped lead efforts to give Mexicans living abroad the opportunity to vote. In the early 2000s they even drove people to Tijuana and back.

"The growth has been exponential," Moreno said. "We have now thousands and thousands of new voters."

Mexicans abroad can now vote online, by mail and in person.

Mexico's National Electoral Institute (INE) says voter turnout outside of Mexico has increased from roughly 32,000 in the 2006 presidential election to an estimated more than 200,000 this year.

Leobardo Mendoza with the INE says offering in-person options strengthens communication and ties with Mexico for those living abroad and offers a way for them to exercise their right to vote.

COFEM has partnered with the INE to conduct outreach in local communities. Moreno said a historical indifference to politics in Mexico does impact voter turnout. But he says the state of politics is changing and underscores the role of the youngest generation of voters, including those who are binational.

"I'm happy to see that my kids, my daughter - she's really strong and wants to vote here and wants to vote there because we want peace in the world, we want to have better communities."