Thread by @KurtHackbarth

THREAD: Mexico's August 1 referendum as to whether to investigate former presidents & other actors for past crimes will be hindered by the fact that the National Electoral Institute is only setting up 57,000 precincts, a fraction of last month's midterms.

diariolavozdelsureste.com/2021/06/instal…

2. The Institute claims it simply doesn't have the money to set up more precincts. But as @HernanGomezB points out, the real truth is that the directors blow their budget on obscene salaries, benefits, bonuses, "advisers", meal budgets, and more.

heraldodemexico.com.mx/opinion/2021/7…

3. The number of precincts is important, because the referendum needs a 40% participation rate in order to be legally binding. Offering fewer places to vote -with the longer lines that will ensue- is effectively a way to sabotage the vote.

4. And if the genuine concern was cost, they should've combined the ballot measure with last month's elections, as most countries do. But neither the Right nor the Institute wanted this, because they feared a higher turnout for MORENA.

5. So now, because of crude political calculations, we have a referendum held needlessly a month after the midterms, with insufficient publicity and precincts.

This kind of structural sabotage does not bode well for future referendums.