Fearing corruption and technical mishaps, Guatemala immigrants denounce voting process

LOS ANGELES — When election season rolls around in Guatemala, politicians make bombastic speeches about how migrants are national heroes for settling in the United States, at great personal sacrifice, and sending back the millions of dollars in remittances that keep the Central American country’s economy afloat.

But in practice, these migrants often have been treated by their homeland as second-class citizens, stripped of their right to take part in national elections. Although Guatemalans living in the United States were permitted in 2019 to vote for first time in a presidential contest, many have complained on social media, WhatsApp chats and via letters and emails to election officials that they’re being stymied by a shortage