Stop in for a cup of coffee
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No voting representation in Congress
Voting rights of United States citizens in Puerto Rico, like the voting rights of residents of other
United States territories, differ from those of
United States citizens in each of the
fifty states and the
District of Columbia. Residents of
Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories do not have voting representation in the
United States Congress, and are not entitled to
electoral votes for
President. The
United States Constitution grants congressional voting representation to
U.S. states, which Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories are not, specifying that
members of Congress shall be elected by direct popular vote and that the
President and the
Vice President shall be elected by
electors chosen by the States.
[Note 1]
Puerto Rico is a territory under the sovereignty of the federal government, but is not part of any state nor is it a state itself. It has been
organized (given a measure of
self-rule by the Congress) subject to the Congress' plenary powers under the
territorial clause of Article IV, sec. 3, of the U.S. Constitution.
[1] In the
U.S. House of Representatives, Puerto Rico is entitled to a
Resident Commissioner, a delegate who is not allowed to vote on the floor of the House, but can vote on procedural matters and in
House committees. In most other U.S. overseas (and historically pre-state) territories, as well as the
District of Columbia, a similar representative position is styled
Delegate.
The lack of direct voting representation in Congress for residents of the territory has been an issue since the
U.S. Congress granted
U.S. citizenship to Puerto Rico citizens in 1917. All judicial claims have been met with political or constitutional challenges; therefore, there has been no change in Puerto Rico's representation in the Congress or representation on the electoral college for the U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico.
Like other territories, Puerto Rico can participate in the presidential primary process. It holds a primary election in the spring of each presidential election year. Then the parties choose delegates to the Republican and Democratic National Convention, who are pledged to vote at that convention for the winners of Puerto Rico's primary, but that's the end of their participation in the presidential election. See
United States presidential primaries in Puerto Rico, 2016.