Mexico's vote by mail

Mexico's democracy takes one more step forward as the Congress passes an absentee voting law that will allow migrants to vote.

To chants of "Viva Mexico," the lower house of Congress passed an absentee voting proposal by a margin of 455 to 6 with 6 abstentions. The bill was already approved by Mexico's Senate and now only needs to signed by President Vicente Fox to become law_ something he has promised to do.

There are a lot of long term implications for greater political influence crossing the border. Short term, this is eleven million more people who can vote in 2006. It's also a political loss for the PRI, but they'll find a way to bounce back.