Sunday, June 11, 2017

Puerto Ricans Overwhelmingly Vote for U.S. Statehood (Sort of)

 Puerto Ricans overwhelmingly voted for U.S. statehood for their territory in a non-binding referendum on Sunday--sort of.

More than 480,000 votes were cast for statehood, more than 7,500 for free association/independence and more than 6,500 for independence, with roughly half of polling centers reporting. But the participation rate was expected to come in at only 23 percent with roughly 2.26 million registered voters.

Several anti-statehood parties boycotted the vote. The Popular Democratic Party and the Puerto Rican Independence Party are against statehood and called for staying away from the polls.

Further, the poll will have no practical result. Puerto Ricans have voted for statehood before, but it is up to the U.S. Congress to grant statehood and there appears to be no strong desire to do so.

   -RW

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