• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. statehood>

Puerto Ricans will vote this fall to seek statehood or independence

David Hawkings
May 20, 2020
man rides bike in Puerto Rico

The last such referendum, in 2017, went overwhelmingly for statehood -- but opponents boycotted the contest.

AFP/Getty Images

Puerto Rico will vote on whether to seek statehood or independence in November, the latest ballot measure posing a fundamental question about the future of American democracy.

The outcome of the referendum will compel the island's government to negotiate with Washington the details of one of those options for ending a system in place for 70 years: Puerto Ricans are American citizens who are exempt from federal income taxes and have significant local autonomy, but in return they get much less federal aid than the states and have no electoral votes or voting members of Congress.

The referendum is ultimately non-binding because Congress and the president would have to agree to end Puerto Rico's current commonwealth arrangement. But the result will still send a signal about the desires of Americans now lacking full democratic rights – and could intensify or deflate momentum for statehood in Washington, D.C.


Residents of the nation's capital, who have been pressing consistently and for decades to become the 51st state, hold out hope they might get their wish if Democrats control both Congress and the White House next year.

But the people of Puerto Rico have sent inconsistent and ambivalent signals in five previous referendums in the past half century. Maintaining the status quo received the most votes in 1967, 1993 and 1998, after which statehood has come on strong — although the most recent plebiscite, three years ago, was boycotted by one of the three major political parties and so turnout was just 23 percent. Outright independence has never been supported by more than 6 percent.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The new measure will be the first offering residents only the options of statehood or independence, also dubbed "free association."

The island's political parties align mostly on the issue of political status, and Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced as well as a majority of the Legislature belong to the pro-statehood New Progressive Party.

"Our people will have the opportunity once and for all to define our future," the governor said in signing the referendum bill Saturday. "It's never too late to be treated as equals."

The vote will come at a time of intensifying disillusion among Puerto Ricans about their treatment by Washington. The island has struggled to obtain all the federal aid it says is needed to recover from hurricanes Irma and Maria, a string of strong earthquakes and the coronavirus pandemic. And its economy has been weakened in part by the end of federal tax incentives that had steered businesses to the commonwealth.

Congress has not moved legislation in response to any of the earlier referendums and there's no guarantee it would next year, either. President Trump's clearest statement on the matter, two years ago, was that "Puerto Rico shouldn't be talking about statehood until they get some people that really know what they're doing." His Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, has not taken a firm stand on the island's future.

Puerto Rico's population of 3.2 million is closest to that of Iowa, suggesting statehood would mean four House members for the island as well as a pair of senators. Unlike D.C., which could be counted on to elect nothing but Democrats to Congress if it were a state, the partisan nature of a potential Puerto Rican delegation is unclear.

Other prominent democracy reform measures that have won spits on statewide ballots Nov. 3 include proposals to open Florida's primaries to all voters, have Colorado quit a promise to pledge its electoral votes to the national popular vote winner, roll back Missouri's two-year-old partisan gerrymandering reforms and institute an independent redistricting commission in Virginia.

From Your Site Articles
  • The Electoral College will never make everyone happy ›
  • LatinoJustice leader talks voting rights reform - The Fulcrum ›
  • Puerto Rico votes for statehood - The Fulcrum ›
  • Puerto Rico: America's oldest democratic crisis - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Puerto Rico just introduced a statehood bill in Congress - Vox ›
  • U.S. lawmakers unveil bill to make Puerto Rico 51st state, as Trump ... ›
  • Statehood movement in Puerto Rico - Wikipedia ›
statehood
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

But what can I do?

Pedro Silva

Are large donor networks still needed to win in a fairer election system?

Paige Chan

Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

David Thornburgh
John Opdycke

The U.S. has been seeking the center since the days of Teddy Roosevelt

Dave Anderson

Imperfection and perseverance

Jeff Clements

We’ve expanded the Supreme Court before. It’s time to do so again.

Anushka Sarkar
latest News

Podcast: 100% Democracy

Our Staff
5h

Americans want action on gun control, but the Senate can’t move forward

David Meyers
25 May

Podcast: Why conspiracy theories thrive in both democracies and autocracies

Our Staff
25 May

Nearly 20 states have restricted private funding of elections

David Meyers
24 May

Video: Will Trump run in 2024?

Our Staff
24 May

The state of voting: May 23, 2022

Our Staff
23 May
Videos

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirstFriday Yap Politics

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
Podcast: 100% Democracy

Podcast: 100% Democracy

Leadership
people talking

But what can I do?

Leveraging big ideas
Shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas

Americans want action on gun control, but the Senate can’t move forward

Congress
Podcast: Why conspiracy theories thrive in both democracies and autocracies

Podcast: Why conspiracy theories thrive in both democracies and autocracies

Big Picture
First-ever majority-female New York city council

Are large donor networks still needed to win in a fairer election system?

Campaign Finance
Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

Voting