María Paula Mijares Torres, Bloomberg News
NEW YORK
EnergiesNet.com 10 31 2024
As the candidates for the US presidency work to win over the last undecided voters ahead of a Nov. 5 election that polls suggest will be especially close, one constituency they’ve zeroed in on is Latinos, who make up about 15% of eligible voters, according to a Pew Research Center study. For Republican Donald Trump, the focus went awry when a comedian at an Oct. 27 rally for him insulted Puerto Ricans, the second-largest group of Hispanics in the US, calling their place of origin a “floating island of garbage.”
Can Puerto Ricans vote in the Nov. 5 presidential election?
It depends where they live. Those who reside in Puerto Rico, a US territory, cannot, but those living in the US can, and there are more people in the second group than in the first — about 5.8 million versus 3.2 million. The Puerto Rican vote is regarded as especially important in the swing state of Pennsylvania. The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College estimates that 3.1% of voters in Pennsylvania are Boricuas, natives of Puerto Rico or people of Puerto Rican descent.
What was the reaction to the Trump comedian’s comment?
Danielle Alvarez, a Trump adviser, distanced the former president’s campaign from the joke by comedian and podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe, saying it “does not reflect the views” of Trump or his campaign. Republican lawmakers in Florida, including Senator Rick Scott and Miami-area Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, criticized the remark. Nonetheless, the backlash was swift. After the rally, the influential Boricua singer Bad Bunny endorsed Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. So did pop star Ricky Martin, who posted a clip from the rally with a caption in Spanish saying, “This is what they think of us.” And on Oct. 30, reggaeton singer Nicky Jam, who had previously endorsed Trump, posted a video on Instagram saying, in Spanish, that he was withdrawing “any support to Donald Trump” because of the comments.
Why can’t residents of Puerto Rico vote in the general election for president?
An island in the West Indies chain lying about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) southeast of the state of Florida, Puerto Rico became a territory of the US in 1898 when it was ceded by Spain after the Spanish-American War. US citizenship is granted automatically upon birth in Puerto Rico — the most populated of more than a dozen US territories. But residents don’t enjoy all the rights of those on the mainland.
In an electoral curiosity that reemerges every four years, the residents of Puerto Rico — as well as the territories of Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands — hold caucuses, primaries or conventions to help choose the Republican and Democratic nominees for US president — but then can’t vote in the general election in November. The discrepancy is explained by the fact that while US law dictates who can vote in the general election, the two parties choose where and when to hold primaries and caucuses.
Is Puerto Rico represented in the US Congress?
Puerto Rico and those other four territories each get to send one delegate to the US House of Representatives. That delegate can speak on the House floor, introduce legislation, offer amendments and vote in committees. But they can’t vote on matters that come to a full House vote. In the Senate, the territories have no representation at all.
Do Puerto Ricans want their island to become a US state?
Some do while others don’t. The island has held six nonbinding votes on whether to seek statehood. The first three showed residents evenly split. The vote in 2012 was tarnished by reports of large numbers of blank ballots and another in 2017 was marred by a boycott. In 2020, 52.52% of the electorate voted in favor of statehood.
Island residents will vote in yet another non-binding plebiscite on Nov. 5. This time, they will be asked their preference among three options: statehood, independence, or so-called free association, in which Puerto Rico would become a sovereign nation in a voluntary association with the US. However, only the US Congress has the power to change the status of the island. It could be expected to put a very high bar on creating a 51st US state.
–With assistance from Laurence Arnold.
bloomberg.com 10 30 2024
