Biometric CURP May Impact Voter Registration

Playa del Carmen — The implementation of the biometric CURP as an official means of identification could alter the way citizens interact with the National Electoral Institute (INE) and potentially reduce the number of people who process their voter ID card.

Could Displace the INE Voter ID Card

José Luis Olivares Carmona, the executive vocal of District 1 of the INE in Quintana Roo, stated that the credential issued by the institute was originally created as a strictly electoral document, but over time it acquired widespread use as identification throughout the country.

He maintained that the biometric CURP could begin to replace it in banks, government offices, and other services that currently require the INE credential as an indispensable requirement.

Citizens Could Lose Interest in the INE Credential

In this sense, he acknowledged that the voter registry could begin to diminish. "It will depend on the public entities that request some means of identification, whether the voter credential remains valid for them. For the time being, for the Institute, it is a credential for voting. As long as our authorities do not say otherwise, it will continue to be the credential for voting used during electoral processes, notwithstanding that we have a biometric CURP; to vote we would have to bring the voter credential."

He emphasized that, despite this scenario, the INE continues to work normally in the issuance of credentials and that there is no defined deadline for the transition to the biometric CURP. He assured that, as long as the authorities of the institute itself do not indicate otherwise, the voter credential will continue to be the valid document for exercising the right to vote.