By DÁNICA COTO, Related Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico is holding elections that can be historic no matter which of the highest two gubernatorial candidates wins.
If Jenniffer González of the pro-statehood New Progressive Get together wins Tuesday’s election, it is going to mark the primary time within the island’s historical past that the get together secures three consecutive phrases.
If Juan Dalmau, who’s operating for Puerto Rico’s Independence Get together and Citizen Victory Motion, wins, it is going to be the primary win for a candidate not representing both of the 2 fundamental events which have dominated the island’s politics for many years.
Trailing González and Dalmau in polls is Jesús Manuel Ortiz of the Well-liked Democratic Get together, which helps the island’s territorial standing. Additionally operating is Javier Jiménez of Mission Dignity, a conservative get together created in 2019.
For many years, the New Progressive Get together and the Well-liked Democratic Get together would obtain a minimum of 90% of all votes, however that started to vary in 2016, with newer events attracting extra voters amid financial and political turmoil.
“That has been a really large change,” stated Jorge Schmidt Nieto, a political analyst and college professor.
Delayed outcomes
Outcomes are usually not anticipated late Tuesday, with analysts warning it could be a few days earlier than that occurs. Through the 2020 elections, it took officers 4 days to launch preliminary outcomes.
Puerto Rico’s State Elections Fee continues to be counting greater than 220,000 early and absentee votes it acquired, with officers from numerous political events noting the method is slow-going. The counting of these votes started greater than two weeks later than standard.
Jessika Padilla, the fee’s alternate president, stated in a press convention that some 40% of these votes had been counted as of Monday.
“This validation course of is one which we’re not going to take evenly,” she stated.
Greater than 5,000 inmates out of some 7,400 whole in Puerto Rico even have voted, though it’s unclear what number of of these votes have been counted.
The fee and different officers are also nonetheless receiving allegations about electoral crimes, together with from individuals who stated they acquired confirmations for early voting after they made no such request.
In the meantime, vitality turbines have been dispatched to greater than two dozen polling stations to ensure electrical energy given the power energy outages which have plagued Puerto Rico lately.
A standing query and a symbolic vote
On Tuesday, voters additionally can be requested for a seventh time about Puerto Rico’s political standing. The nonbinding referendum provides three choices: statehood, independence and independence with free affiliation, beneath which points like international affairs, U.S. citizenship and use of the U.S. greenback could be negotiated.
Whatever the consequence, a change in standing requires approval from the U.S. Congress.
As well as, Puerto Ricans on Tuesday can assist Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in a symbolic vote if they need. Whereas Puerto Ricans are U.S. residents, these on the island are usually not allowed to vote in U.S. presidential elections.
Almost 2 million voters are eligible to take part in Tuesday’s election, though it stays to be seen how many individuals will accomplish that. Voter apathy has dominated latest elections.
