Puerto Ricans Vote To Join United States in Statehood Referendum

The people of Puerto Rico took to the polls to show their unequivocal support, a resounding 97%, for the Statehood referendum that, if the ratified, would make the island nation the 51st State of The United States.

The Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló, announced this afternoon that he will visit Washington, D.C., following the victory of statehood in the status consultation held today on the Island, to notify Congress, the White House, and international forums of the results.

Governor Rosselló noted that statehood received 97% of the support, which represents more than 500,000 votes; a participation of about 33% compared to the voters in the November 2016 election event. On the other hand, independence and free association received 1.5% of the vote, while the current territorial status gained just 1.3%.

"Today, we the People of Puerto Rico, are sending a strong and clear message to the world claiming our equal rights as American citizens. We will now take these results to Washington, D.C., with the strong support of not only a duly executed electoral exercise, but also of a contingency of national and international observers, who can attest to the fact that the process was fair, well organized and democratic. Said contingency will be giving a report to Congress and the federal Government on this historic election," added the governor.


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Rosselló congratulated the people for once again demonstrating their commitment as citizens and asserting democracy.

He further argued that, in a democracy, the expression of the majority that participates in the electoral processes prevails. He recalled that in elections in the United States, between 30% to 55% of eligible voters cast their vote to elect their president and representatives in congress. 

"At Wisconsin's ratification as a state in 1848, 23,183 voters from a population of more than 130,000 people participated, which represented 17% of its population. In addition, in 1911 Arizona did the same with 15,489 voters of a population of 217,000, 7% of its population. In 1940, Hawaii requested to initiate a process toward statehood with a 35% turnout. Meanwhile, in 1946, Alaska began its admission process with the participation of 16,375 voters with a population of 75,000, which represented 21% of its population. Today, the results equal or exceed those percentages," stressed the chief executive.

Rosselló added that "it will be up to this new generation of Puerto Ricans to demand and claim in Washington the end of the current improper colonial relationship, and begin a transition process to fully incorporate Puerto Rico as the next state of the Union."


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"From today going forward, the federal Government will no longer be able to ignore the voice of the majority of the American citizens in Puerto Rico. It would be highly contradictory for Washington to demand democracy in other parts of the world, and not respond to the legitimate right to self-determination that was exercised today in the American territory of Puerto Rico," he declared.

Finally, the governor stated that he will be designating the members of the Equality Commission, who will perform their duties before the federal House and Senate, as was done in the past by some states with the Tennessee Plan.

Images and partial content provided by Officer of the Governor Puerto Rico

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