National debate: Should the INE be abolished for not voting? Proposal from the PVEM

An initiative presented by Representative Luis Enrique Miranda Barrera of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico ( PVEM ) proposes sanctioning citizens who fail to vote in elections and referendums with the cancellation of their INE credentials for one year. The proposal, pending discussion, has sparked a debate about the nature of voting and citizen rights.

In the context of citizen participation and democratic processes in Mexico, a legislative proposal has emerged that seeks to modify citizens' relationship with suffrage. Representative Luis Enrique Miranda Barrera, a member of the Parliamentary Group of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM), has presented an initiative to reform Article 36 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, with the aim of establishing voting as a civic obligation and sanctioning noncompliance .

The PVEM legislator's initiative proposes adding a paragraph to Section III of Article 36 of the Constitution. This change would explicitly establish the obligation of citizens of the Republic to vote in elections, referendums, and recall processes, in accordance with the terms established by law.

The proposed sanction for failure to comply with this obligation is sweeping: cancellation of the voter ID card issued by the National Electoral Institute (INE) as official identification, for a period of one year.

Representative Miranda Barrera bases his proposal on the idea that greater citizen participation in electoral processes legitimizes governments and facilitates accountability on the part of elected officials. He argues that voting should be considered an obligation and that the implementation of sanctions would encourage participation, thus strengthening the country's democratic institutions.

As part of his argument, the legislator compared Mexico's situation with that of countries where voting is mandatory, such as Belgium, Australia, Brazil, and Argentina. In these nations, according to the representative, voter turnout rates typically exceed 75%, while in Mexico, where voting is not mandatory, turnout in the last elections was 61%.

At the time of this report, the initiative is pending discussion and voting in the Chamber of Deputies' Constitutional Affairs Committee, with no date set for its analysis.

The proposal inevitably raises a discussion about the nature of voting: is it a right that can be freely exercised, including the option of abstention as a form of expression, or a civic obligation whose failure to comply must be sanctioned? Imposing a penalty such as canceling the INE (National Institute of Statistics) card, which in Mexico is an essential identification document for multiple everyday procedures, represents a measure of considerable impact.

While the goal of encouraging citizen participation is widely shared, coercion could generate "artificial participation." That is, citizens could go to the polls merely to avoid sanctions, without an informed or thoughtful vote, which might not translate into an improvement in the quality of democracy and could even generate greater disaffection.

Furthermore, the practical implementation of a measure of this nature would entail significant logistical challenges for the INE, which is responsible for verifying who voted and applying sanctions. Questions would also arise about how cases of citizens unable to vote for justified reasons, such as illness, access barriers in remote areas, or being away from their polling station due to force majeure, would be handled. Without adequate safeguards, the measure could disproportionately affect already vulnerable populations.

The debate is ongoing, and the outcome of this controversial proposal in Congress is expected to be known in the coming weeks or months.

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