Protest on the ballot? The null vote and the judicial election in Mexico

The 2025 judicial election in Mexico introduced direct voting for positions in the federal judiciary and state judiciaries.However, the result was unexpected.Turnout in the federal election barely reached 13 %, and invalid and blank votes far exceeded historical levels.Were the invalid votes the result of mistakes made by citizens or a form of conscious protest?Based on a comparative analysis by state and regression models, factors such as perceptions of the politicization of the electoral context, lack of information, political disaffection, and the absence of rejection options on the ballot are examined.The findings point to a critical citizenry that used invalid votes to challenge a process seen as captured by partisan interests.Null votes and blank votes appear here as a barometer of democratic unrest in the face of institutional reforms with little legitimacy.