Guatemalans vote in low turnout at a Washington polling place

Guatemalan Juan José Palencia, originally from Progreso Guatemala, was voter number 20 more than two hours after the opening of the electoral precinct for the metropolitan area of ​​Washington where some 16,000 voters are registered.

Palencia arrived at the polling station to annul his vote as a sign of repudiation “of all the anomalies that tarnish” the electoral process in his country, as he commented when leaving the polling station to the Voice of America.

“Because of so many things that are seen in Guatemala, I have not voted for any of the shortlists, I only came to stain my ballot, to annul the vote. Honestly, none of the participants have a good record, they are political enthusiasts,” he said .

Maynor Aguirre, secretary of the Northeast US Board of Elections, a member of the Guatemalan community in the US capital region, told VOAthat the day passed calmly and with a markedly low participation.

“We have some 16,000 registered in the metropolitan area of ​​Washington, Maryland and Virginia, we hope that at least 5,000 will come,” although the experience of four years ago also left them with a “very low participation”, a challenge that they hope to overcome today.

Aguirre does acknowledge that there were logistical problems so that Guatemalans abroad could register to vote in these elections, especially “the delay in issuing the documents,” which in his opinion generated inconvenience.

He also highlighted as “a vacuum” the lack of mass promotion to inform Guatemalan migrants in the United States.

For Anabella Menéndez, delegate of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) for the Guatemalan Voting Board Abroad, the coordination to install the voting center in Washington, one of the 17 in the entire US, did not have any inconveniences.

The official acknowledged that the difficulties presented in this process, noted with people who arrived at the polling station this morning and could not vote, is because they are registered in Guatemala, but they did not update their information to cast the vote from abroad.

“The difficulty is that people are unaware that they have to update themselves, they are registered, but they have moved their residence and lose the right to vote,” said the TSE official.

Héctor Tisda, from Baja Verapaz, was one of several dozen Guatemalans who arrived at the Washington electoral precinct and left upset at not being able to cast their vote, because their information was not up to date.

“I am surprised at how the Guatemalan system is. Living here in Virginia, I never received the correct information for a voting process (…) we do not have the opportunity to make our voices heard as immigrants,” he said.

Guatemala only allows voting abroad for presidential shortlisted candidates, and at the end of the registration process, it reported that 90,000 migrants from that country are authorized to vote throughout the United States.

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