The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship has taken the necessary measure to ensure the participation of Costa Ricans living abroad in the 2018 elections.

Minister Manuel González explained that all Costa Ricans have to register before October 3rd, 2017 and update their residence information in order to cast their vote next February 2, 2018.
The Supreme Electoral Court (TSE in Spanish) the electoral authority in Costa Rica released all details regarding the steps that have been taken to offer ticos living in foreign countries the possibility to vote.

A total of 52 consulate offices distributed in 42 countries will facilitate the process, in 81% of these the vote will be done electronically, the remaining 19% will do it in the traditional or “manual” way because they involve countries where less than 50 voters are registered; in each of the locations there will be a representative of the TSE to guarantee the transparency of the process.

The only continent where this possibility wasn’t made available is Africa, since there are no registered voters.

A little over 12,000 Costa Ricans are registered to vote abroad since 2014 but with the opening of new locations, the TSE hopes to attract some 26,000 Costa Rican voters.

The majority of voters living outside of Costa Rica are located in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Atlanta in the United States; Canada, Mexico, Spain and Panama.

The TSE has run extensive testing of the systems to guarantee an error free system.

For additional information, voters can visit rree.go.cr or can contact the nearest consulate.