MEXICO CITY >> Mexico held its first-ever judicial elections on Sunday, stirring controversy and sowing confusion among voters still struggling to understand a process set to transform the country’s court system.

The election appeared to get off to a slow start.

Some voting centers in Mexico City, the Gulf coast state of Veracruz and the southern state of Chiapas opened with no one or only a handful of people waiting to vote. Experts had warned that turnout in the historic elections could be extremely low, due to the mindboggling array of unfamiliar choices and the fact that voting for judges is entirely new.

Mexico’s ruling party, Morena, overhauled the court system late last year, fueling protests and criticism that the reform is an attempt by those in power to seize on their political popularity to gain control of the branch of government until now out of their reach.

“It’s an effort to control the court system, which has been a sort of thorn in the side” of those in power, said Laurence Patin, director of the legal organization Juicio Justo in Mexico. “But it’s a counter-balance, which exists in every healthy democracy.”

Now, instead of judges being appointed on a system of merit and experience, Mexican voters will choose between some 7,700 candidates vying for more than 2,600 judicial positions.

In a middle-class Mexico City neighborhood, poll workers organized the color-coded ballots by federal and local contests. Four people were waiting to vote when the location opened.

Esteban Hernández, a 31-year-old veterinary student, said he didn’t agree with electing judges and doesn’t support Morena, but came to vote because “since there isn’t much participation, my vote will count more.”

He had studied the candidates on a website listing their qualifications and decided to pick those who had doctorates.

At the same polling place, Octavio Arellano, a 67-year-old consultant, quickly made his selections, referring to handwritten notes he carried with him. He’s also a critic of the process, but voted for members of the Supreme Court, as well as disciplinary and electoral tribunals, to “influence the most important” races. He said he spoiled his votes for the local judicial positions.

At a polling place in a park in Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, Francisco Torres de León, a 62-year-old retired teacher, came prepared, having studied the ballots and his selections. He marked all the ballots in about five minutes, but even so, said, “the process is laborious because there are too many candidates and positions that they’re going to occupy.”

Hugo de León Roblero, 73, also a retired teacher, took about 20 minutes to fill out the ballots at the same polling place, but supported the process, which he said was a necessary change, “even though there’s some confusion about how to vote.”