With Porto Rico in the headlines, we asked Amílcar Barto, professor of cultures, companies and global studies, to clarify the role that American territories play during the elections.
Puerto Rican celebrities are mass Responding to the raw comments of an actor on the island’s territory during the Garden Madison Square rally of former President Donald Trump during the weekend. Then Sunday, vice-president Kamala Harris unveiled a New policy platform She called the working group on the opportunity economy of Puerto Rico.
With Puerto Rico in the headlines, we asked for Amílcar BartoProfessor of cultures, societies and global studies in the northeast, and acting director of the University’s international affairs program, to clarify the role played by American territories in electoral policy. His comments were published for more clarity and conciseness.
Can Puertoricans vote in the presidential elections?
Puerto Ricans who live on the island cannot vote in the federal elections as indicated in the American Constitution. Consequently, they do not have a complete representation in the congress. This applies to all other American territories, which are limited to sending to the American house “a non -voting territorial delegate”, explains Barto.
But Puerto Ricans residing in the United States can vote by absent election, or, alternately, go to their respective states to vote. “Thus, Puerto Ricans who live on the American continent – and, at this stage, nearly two thirds of ethnic Puerto Ricans live on the American continent, not on the island – can vote,” says Barto.
But all Puerto Ricans, including islanders and those who live on the American continent, can participate in the American main process. Porto Rico voters and other American territories are therefore granted delegates from the two main parties.
How did we get to the status quo?
The Hispano-American war resulted in the American annexation of the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico. The question then, at the turn of the 19th century, was whether the inhabitants living in the new territories should be considered as American citizens.
According to the United States Supreme Court, these islands “belonged to, but were not part of the” United States. It was the reading by the court of the situation in the so-called Island cases – A series of opinions issued in the aftermath of the war which aimed to clarify the legal and political status of “unstoppated” territories.
“Federal law can establish different rules for territories abroad,” explains Barreto. “However, this could not, because of the uniformity clause, do this to the American states.”
For more than a century, Puerto Ricans have attacked the question of the status of Puerto Rico. And the ideas that have seen independence Movements, which pose an autonomous or semi-autonomous Puerto. Others pleaded for the admission of Puerto Rico in the union as 51st State.
A non -binding referendum is scheduled for November 5 in Puerto Rico, occurring alongside the Puerto Rican general elections, which will probe the preference of residents for a future form of government. Their choices include sovereignty with a free association, a state and independence.
Far from being helpless in the American elections, Puerto Ricans are the second largest block of Hispanic voting in the United States, according to Pew Research Center. In 2021, there were about six million Puerto Ricans residing on the American continent.
At home, the Puerto Rican political system is not so different from other democracies. As an autonomous territory with a republican form of government, Puerto Rico has a multi -party political system, with three branches of the government: executive, legislative and judicial.
“Historically, voters’ participation rates on the island of Puerto Rico were much higher than the participation rates of voters on the American continent,” explains Barreto.
“For more than half a century, we had a very stable political system. The two largest parties would collectively obtain around 95% of the votes – one of them was for the State, one was for the status quo – and it was very stable since the late 1960s, “he said.
Barreto continues: “The last elections, the two main parts only obtained 60 percent, so that the party system on the island collapses. What he will transform into – I don’t know.
