MEXICANS LAUD VOTING LAW LEGISLATION GIVES IMMIGRANTS A VOICE IN HOME COUNTRY'S '06 ELECTION.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

Mexican immigrants across the Southland welcomed news Tuesday that legislators back home had passed a law allowing millions of them to vote in 2006 presidential elections.

Under the measure, which President Vicente Fox has pledged to sign into law, four million of the 11 million immigrants living in the United States with Mexican-issued voter identification cards are now eligible to vote by absentee ballot.

``This is recognition of the immigrants' value,'' said Marta Ugarte, a North Hills resident who has lived in the United States for 16 years. ``We can influence Mexico now and the first thing we are going to do is demand the end of corruption.''

Some political analysts in Mexico said the law could reshape the race for the country's next leader.

But other observers say voter turnout among Mexicans living abroad is likely to be low because many who were issued voting cards over the years have lost them. Even fewer are likely to apply for a voting card since it requires immigrants - many of whom are in the U.S. illegally - to return to Mexico for the application.

Ugarte, a spokeswoman for an association of clubs representing individual Mexican states, said many Mexicans in the clubs were not likely to vote because of the hassle in returning to Mexico to secure a card.

``There won't be as much influence as we wanted,'' said Ugarte, who is from the Pacific state of Oaxaca.

Since Fox took office in 2005, expatriates have pushed legislators to approve the voting measure.

The approved measure is far more restrictive than earlier proposals, which would have included the placement of voting booths in public places.

In Mexico, there were fears expressed by members of all major political parties that the country's notoriously slow and corrupt postal service will handle mailing out ballots.

``Voting by mail has its advantages and disadvantages, but it is the consensus that has been agreed upon,'' said Juan Jose Garcia of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party.

Under the law, citizens with dual citizenship can vote in both U.S. and Mexican presidential elections - which some U.S. critics said was a slap in the face to other U.S. voters.

``We need to consider the impact it has on American society and the sense of national cohesion,'' said Ira Melhman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. ``What's made this country work is that people ultimately renounce allegiance and make full commitment to this country.''

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com