In Mexico, the vote is universal, free, secret, direct, personal and not transferable. All persons with Mexican nationality, by birth or by naturalization, who are 18 years of age or older, and have an honest way of living, have the right to vote. However, in order to exercise this right, the law establishes certain additional requirements such as registration of the citizen in the Federal Registry of Voters and possession of a photo-voting card, which is issued free of charge by the Federal Electoral Institute.
The electoral registry in Mexico is of an active nature, that is, it is responsibility of the citizens who fulfill the requirements, to attend, carry out and complete their registration in person before one of the field offices or modules set up for this purpose by the IFE throughout the country.
In any case, the registration process is verified by an accurate geographic-electoral frame in accordance to the voters’ home address within the national territory which also determines the place where, as a general rule, the citizens must vote. The specific territorial site is called electoral section, which is the basic geographical unit into which the national territory is divided for electoral purposes. According to the law, an electoral section is made up of a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 1,500 voters; within the limits of each section, a polling booth or site must be installed for every 750 registered voters.