Hundreds of voters cast ballots at Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles in historic presidential election

Hundreds of Mexican nationals lined up outside the Consulate General of Mexico’s office in Los Angeles on Sunday to cast ballots in an election that will likely see the first female president chosen in the country’s history.

People began lining up as early as 4 a.m. to cast their ballots at the consulate office in the 2400 block of West 6th Street, near MacArthur Park. The area was packed with street vendors selling tacos, fruit and ice cream and people erupted in cheers every time a voter emerged from inside after casting their ballot.

Draped in Mexican flags, many people waited patiently as mariachi music blasted from the park across the street, eager to participate in a historic decision they said would change Mexico’s political landscape. Similar scenes played out at Mexican consulates around the country on Sunday.

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1. Lines of people who have waited to vote are seen outside the Mexican Consulate on Sunday. 2. Irma Selene Hernandez Atondo waits to vote outside the Mexican Consulate. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) 3. Antonio Guerrero poses for a portrait while waiting to vote outside the Mexican Consulate. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

“We want to be a part of the tide that ends corruption,” said voter Antonio Garcia, who had a Mexican flag draped around his neck. “The last six years, we have seen a lot of changes in Mexico that have worsened the status of the country.”

Garcia, who has been in the country for 22 years, said he called his mother in Tijuana this morning, and she said she was ready to vote. He also received texts from his sister asking if he was traveling to the consulate.

Candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, President Andres Manual López Obrador’s protege and the former mayor of Mexico City, is heavily favored to win the election — in large part because she has vowed to advance his signature projects, including welfare programs and efforts to reform the judiciary.

Obrador is not on the ballot, but Sunday’s vote is widely viewed as a referendum on the popular but polarizing president known for pulling millions of Mexicans out of poverty while weakening some of the country’s key institutions, emboldening the military and failing to stem an epidemic of brutal gang violence.

Lines of people who have waited since the early morning hours to vote are seen outside the Mexican Consulate on Sunday.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Sheinbaum’s chief opponent, Xóchitl Gálvez, an entrepreneur and former senator who represents an opposition coalition, has sought to tap into resentment among the middle and upper classes against the current president, who is known widely by his initials, AMLO.

Sunday’s election is the largest in Mexico’s history. Along with a new president, voters will choose 128 senators, 500 congressional deputies, eight governors and the mayor of Mexico City, along with thousands of local officials. Mexican presidents serve a single six-year term.

Meanwhile, Laura Torres, who arrived at the consulate in Los Angeles on Sunday with Garcia and a group from Oxnard, said they had waited six hours to vote and would wait another six if necessary. The group plans to vote for Sheinbaum.

“We are here to support Mexico. The last six-year term has been much better than before,” Torres said about the election. “We are very happy to vote, even if it is here in another that is not ours. We are proud.”

Valeria Jauregui, left, and Carolina Montemayor, right, pose for a portrait while waiting to vote outside the Mexican Consulate on Sunday.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Valeria Jauregui and Carolina Montemayor, both 21 years old, are performing arts students at the AMDA College of the Performing Arts, studying abroad from Monterrey, Mexico. They were in line to vote for Galvez.

“It’s important for us as young people to do so because we are the future of the country,” Jauregui said. “The country is in a fragile state, and getting involved and raising our voices is what we can do.”

Both students said they are voting for Galvez instead of Sheinbaum because they believe a change from the Morena party is much needed, and they feel that the Morena leadership “is not working.”

Arriving at 6 a.m., the students thought they would finish voting in a few hours and head over to get breakfast, but they remained in line well past noon. Nonetheless, they were excited to be voting for the country’s first female president and to be part of history.

Lines of people who have waited since the early morning hours to vote are seen outside the Mexican Consulate on Sunday.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

“A female president is progress for the country, hopefully for the good of the country,” Montemayor said. “We are in a feminist movement that will definitely influence some changes.”

Staff writers Patrick J. McDonnell and Kate Linthicum contributed to this report.