03-07-2021, 02:11 PM
There was a pretty big article done about a decade back about the statehood movement in Puerto Rico. There's a lot more going on there than simple statehood vs. the status quo, and percentages for and percentages against.
The situation is incredibly complicated, and it would take an actual resident to give it it's proper context. I'm trying to see if I can find it, because it has plenty of quotes from actual Puerto Ricans that explain the issue. But in the meantime, this kind of explains what I'm talking about:
On November 6, 2012, eligible voters in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico were presented with two questions:
(1) whether they agreed to continue with Puerto Rico's territorial status and (2) to indicate the political status they preferred from three possibilities: statehood, independence, or a sovereign nation in free association with the United States.[23] Voters who chose "No" to the first question numbered 970,910 (54.0%), expressing themselves against continuing the current political status, while those who voted "Yes" numbered 828,077 (46.0%), indicating their desire to continue the current political status relationship. Of those who answered the second question, 834,191 (61.2%) chose statehood, 454,768 (33.3%) chose free association, and 74,895 (5.5%) chose independence.[4][5]
Breaking down simply...
Only 46% of votes were in support of the Puerto Rico territory status, while 54% were not. For the "nots" there is a second question, of which you prefer, and of those 61% chose statehood, thus winning out.
There have been a lot of complaints from those who are anti-statehood that it's not fair that the 54% now represents for "statehood" when in actuality it's much lower.
Although the previous two referendums (November 2012 and June 2017) also had ostensibly pro-statehood outcomes, the New York Times described them as "marred, with ballot language phrased to favor the party in office".[3] For example, the fourth referendum, held in November 2012, asked voters (1) whether they wanted to maintain the current political status of Puerto Rico and, if not, (2) which alternative status they prefer. Of the fifty-four percent (54.0%) who voted "No" on maintaining the status quo, 61.11% chose statehood, 33.34% chose free association, and 5.55% chose independence.[4][5][6][7] Opponents of statehood argued that these results did not show that a majority of Puerto Rican voters support statehood. The June 2017 referendum was, according to the New York Times, a "flawed election" where the turnout was only 23% because most statehood opponents sat out. 97% of votes cast favored statehood.[3]
Now, I believe the most current results are a simply yes or no, but I haven't read enough to really know all the details. I'm simply sharing this for those that think Puerto Rico should have been a state decades ago. It's not that simple, even as recently as 2017.
The situation is incredibly complicated, and it would take an actual resident to give it it's proper context. I'm trying to see if I can find it, because it has plenty of quotes from actual Puerto Ricans that explain the issue. But in the meantime, this kind of explains what I'm talking about:
On November 6, 2012, eligible voters in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico were presented with two questions:
(1) whether they agreed to continue with Puerto Rico's territorial status and (2) to indicate the political status they preferred from three possibilities: statehood, independence, or a sovereign nation in free association with the United States.[23] Voters who chose "No" to the first question numbered 970,910 (54.0%), expressing themselves against continuing the current political status, while those who voted "Yes" numbered 828,077 (46.0%), indicating their desire to continue the current political status relationship. Of those who answered the second question, 834,191 (61.2%) chose statehood, 454,768 (33.3%) chose free association, and 74,895 (5.5%) chose independence.[4][5]
Breaking down simply...
Only 46% of votes were in support of the Puerto Rico territory status, while 54% were not. For the "nots" there is a second question, of which you prefer, and of those 61% chose statehood, thus winning out.
There have been a lot of complaints from those who are anti-statehood that it's not fair that the 54% now represents for "statehood" when in actuality it's much lower.
Although the previous two referendums (November 2012 and June 2017) also had ostensibly pro-statehood outcomes, the New York Times described them as "marred, with ballot language phrased to favor the party in office".[3] For example, the fourth referendum, held in November 2012, asked voters (1) whether they wanted to maintain the current political status of Puerto Rico and, if not, (2) which alternative status they prefer. Of the fifty-four percent (54.0%) who voted "No" on maintaining the status quo, 61.11% chose statehood, 33.34% chose free association, and 5.55% chose independence.[4][5][6][7] Opponents of statehood argued that these results did not show that a majority of Puerto Rican voters support statehood. The June 2017 referendum was, according to the New York Times, a "flawed election" where the turnout was only 23% because most statehood opponents sat out. 97% of votes cast favored statehood.[3]
Now, I believe the most current results are a simply yes or no, but I haven't read enough to really know all the details. I'm simply sharing this for those that think Puerto Rico should have been a state decades ago. It's not that simple, even as recently as 2017.
