Californians cross border to vote in Mexican election

A schoolteacher from North County, a factory worker from Riverside, and an engineer from Bonita were among hundreds waiting for up to three hours at Tijuana's A.L. Rodríguez International Airport on Sunday morning to vote in Mexico's presidential election.

“The hope is that we can see a change,” said Patricia Van Sickel, 60, of Rancho Peñasquitos. Registered to vote in Mexico City, she was preparing to cast a ballot for Ricardo Anaya of Mexico's National Action Party, the PAN.

Unable to make it back to the country's capital in time, the English as a Second Language teacher instead joined the long line that snaked for much of the day through the airport's lobby, spilling onto the sidewalk outside.

Waiting to vote were mothers pushing strollers, airline passengers pulling luggage, groups of friends on vacation and a dozen nuns wearing full habit. Literally feet from the border, the station also proved convenient for many Mexicans living in southern California — both dual U.S. and Mexican citizens or U.S. legal residents.

As in other Mexican presidential elections, the National Electoral Institute set up special polling stations across the country for “voters in transit” — often at bus stations, airports, even hospitals. Early Sunday, a half-dozen Tijuana special stations were mobbed with these voters.

Among them was María Cándida Ramírez Serrano, who was preparing to cast her ballot at the Tijuana airport after a three-hour wait that followed her two-hour drive from Riverside County.