Mexican voters headed to the polls on Sunday to begin picking judges in an unprecedented election that could give President Claudia Sheinbaum broad influence over a revamped judiciary, the only branch of government her leftist party doesn’t control.

Polls opened at 8 a.m. in Mexico City, and turnout appeared light in the capital, with little or no waits in many polling stations. Protesters who oppose the judicial overhaul in Latin America’s No. 2 economy also gathered.

Many voters consulted notes on their phones or paper lists of candidates as they scrutinized the multipage ballots. They included former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who championed the constitutional overhaul last year that paved the way for a fully-elected federal judiciary.

Sunday’s vote will pick a total of 881 federal judges, including all members of the Supreme Court. More than 3,400 mostly little-known candidates are competing overall.

“I didn’t really know many of the candidates, only three, and I voted for them. It was very complicated; it took me about 20 minutes. I had nine ballots,” said Norma Mendoza, a 50-year-old housewife who voted in downtown Mexico City.

She confessed with a smile that she picked the rest of the candidates randomly.

But other voters said they were ready after researching the candidates beforehand, some boasting it only took around five minutes to cast their ballots.

“When I arrived I was already focused on who I wanted to vote for. I did my research reading the newspapers online and watching the mañanera,” said high school teacher Claudia Pérez, 45, referring to Sheinbaum’s regular morning press conference.

Sheinbaum has argued that the judicial election, supported by Lopez Obrador, will purge the courts of corrupt judges and rampant nepotism. Critics say it will undermine the rule of law by injecting more politics into legal disputes. Concerns that the election may remove a key check on the ruling party caused the peso to sell off last year.

Video of Lopez Obrador shared online showed a rare post-presidency appearance for the veteran leftist, voting at a polling station in Palenque, Chiapas state, near his house in southern Mexico. He could be seen consulting what appeared to be a handwritten list.

Historic low turnout?

The head of the electoral authority, Guadalupe Taddei, said ahead of voting that preliminary results for the Supreme Court races will not be posted Sunday night. But voter turnout figures could be made available then, she said, adding that race-specific results could be announced starting on Monday.

In a video posted on her X account, Sheinbaum walked with her husband to vote near the presidential palace. “Long live democracy!” she said just before entering the polling station, raising her fist in the air.

While the president has predicted a big turnout, many experts expect the opposite scenario.

Political analyst Gisela Rubach, head of Consultores y Marketing Politico, estimated an 8% to 12% turnout — which would mark one of the lowest-ever levels of voter participation in Mexico’s democratic history. A 2021 referendum that asked voters whether or not ex-presidents should be investigated for corruption attracted a 7% turnout, the current record low.

Fund-raising, traditional candidate TV ads, big rallies and party support were prohibited during the campaign. With limited means to make themselves known, hopefuls have largely relied on social media to reach out to voters. Leaders of Sheinbaum’s Morena party and allied groups had in recent days handed out lists with the names of their preferred contenders, according to local media reports.

“Powerful groups are the ones who are manipulating the election, both by choosing the candidates, and by promoting them now so that they win the elections,” said Maria Emilia Molina, a circuit judge who also leads the Mexican Association of Women Judges.

A protest at the capital’s Monumento de la Revolución, which commemorates Mexico’s early 20th century revolutionary war, attracted a few hundred voters who opted to voice their opposition to the first-of-its-kind election, instead of participating.

“This is a farce. They are trying to make fools of the people, and they are abusing their power to control the judiciary,” said Roberto, a 63-year-old engineer marching with his 88-year-old mother, Rocío. They asked that their surnames be withheld over fears of reprisals.

Voters on Sunday are also electing five members of a new discipline court that will be empowered to remove judges, as well as two judges on the top electoral court.

Nineteen Mexican states — more than half — are holding parallel elections for local judges, presenting those voters with additional ballots to sort through.

Polls close at 6 p.m.

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(With assistance from Kelsey Butler and Maya Averbuch.)

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