QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MUNICIPIO BRAND 



103 



at the same time. Ever since 1869 substitutes or 

 suplentes have been elected at the same time as 

 the regular or proprietary municipal officials. 

 This was because of the frequency of absences. 

 Such neglect of Antj can be attributed to the fact 

 that the office of regidor is honorary, obligatory, 

 and without pay, although small remuneration 

 may be received for work on special commissions. 

 The substitute serves whenever his proprietary 

 opposite is temporarily or permanently absent. 



Theoretically most municipios are allowed one 

 regidor for each 1,000 population, but if the total 

 popidation exceeds the maximum number of 

 municipes allowed by law (5 in the case of Qui- 

 roga), the precinct boundaries must be adjusted 

 so that the population is more or less evenly 

 distributed in as many precincts as there are 

 allowable municipes. The boundaries of the elec- 

 toral precincts are determined by an electoral 

 council (whose make-up will be discussed later). 

 Presumably the electoral council can indulge in 

 considerable gerrymandering. An examination 

 of the incomplete data pertaining to electoral 

 precincts shows that there have been many shifts 

 and recombinations. The secciones set up for the 

 1943 election of a Federal congressman (diputado 

 federal) were: Sec. 1, cvarteles I and II of Villa 

 Quiroga and ranchos Icudcato, La Tirimicua, and 

 Zirandangacho ; Sec. 2, cuarteles III and IV of 

 Villa Quiroga and ranchos Atzimbo, Caringaro, 

 and Sanambo; Sec. 3, Pueblo de Santa Fe; Sec. 4, 

 Pueblo de San Jer6nimo; Sec. 5, Pueblo de San 

 Andres. This can be compared with the make-up 

 of Sec. 4, a few years earlier, which was cuartel IV 

 of Villa Quiroga and the ranchos Atzimbo, Icud- 

 cato, La Tirimicua, and Sanambo, while Sec. 1 

 comprised only cuarteles I and II of VUla Quiroga, 

 Sec. 2 was cuartel III of Villa Quu-oga and rancho 

 Caringaro, Sec. 3 consisted of the pueblos of San 

 Andres and San Jer6nimo, and Sec. 5 was the 

 Pueblo de Santa Fe. 



ELECTION PROCEDURE 



The direct popular vote is used for the election 

 of municipes, State diputado and governor, Fed- 

 eral diputado and senador, and (until recently) 

 the local judges or jueces menores. Male residents 

 or vecinos of the municipality have the right to 

 vote if they are Mexican citizens with full civU 

 and political rights (not major criminals, habitual 



drunkards or vagrants, outlaws, and the like), and 

 are 2 1 or more years of age (18 if married) . Thirty 

 days before any election the electoral council must 

 post in some public place a printed or typed list of 

 all residents with right to vote in that election. 

 During the next 25 days names may be challenged 

 and the list can be corrected. These lists are 

 based on the general census which is made by the 

 electoral council once every 2 years, and which is 

 kept up to date by a variety of means. The 

 judge of the civil registry must send to the coun- 

 cil every 3 months the names of all who have 

 acquired the right to vote by marrying or becom- 

 ing 21 years of age, and also the names (with sex 

 and age) of all who have been born or who have 

 died; the president of the ayuntamiento, chiefs of 

 quarter and of block, et al., must send in the 

 names of all citizens who have moved; and persons 

 who have changed address also must notify the 

 council. Both the general census and the elec- 

 toral list must provide the following data: Name, 

 age, status as to marriage, occupation, literacy, 

 address. At least 3 days before the election a noti- 

 fication and credential of voting must be delivered 

 to each qualified voter. This credential carries 

 the name of the voter, the number of his ballot, 

 the date of the proposed election, the purpose of 

 the election, and the location of the voting center 

 or table (mesa) to which the voter should report. 

 All elections are held on Sunday, and between the 

 hours of 9 a. m. and 5 p. m. When the voter ap- 

 pears at the voting center he exchanges his 

 credential for a numbered ballot from each party 

 having a candidate, and for a blank ballot in case 

 he should wish to write in the name of an um-eg- 

 istered candidate. Then the voter selects the 

 ballot of the party of his choice (or writes in on the 

 blank ballot), doubles it and hands it to an official 

 who deposits it in the vote container (avfora), and 

 destroys the other ballots. Voters enter the vot- 

 ing place or casUla (booth), and vote one by one. 

 As indicated above, each contesting party has its 

 own printed distinctive ballot [cedula or boleta) 

 upon which appear instructions for voting, the 

 name and colored symbol of the party, the names 

 of the party's candidates, and a space for the 

 voter's nimiber. A note at the bottom informs 

 the voter that the number of his ballot will be 

 used in the counting of the votes. The use of 

 distinctive colored symbols by the various parties 



