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Este informe no está disponible en español. National JournalAs Puerto Rico Goes ...by John MaggsSeptember 16, 2000 A U.S. District judge has added a new wrinkle to the neck-and- neck presidential race by granting the 2.4 million registered voters of Puerto Rico the right to participate in a national election for the first time. Authorities in the commonwealth are printing up ballots and preparing to choose eight representatives to send to the Electoral College. But the Justice Department this week asked an appeals court to immediately reverse the ruling because it threatens to disrupt the presidential campaign. Even if the Aug. 29 verdict is reversed-and constitutional experts say that seems likely-a further appeal could delay a final ruling until close to the election, or even after it. The governor of Puerto Rico has vowed to go ahead with the vote even if an appeals court invalidates it. This leaves open the possibility that a razor-thin outcome would not be decided until after Nov. 7. Puerto Rico , with more voters than 29 U.S. states, might find itself in the unexpected position of affecting America's choice of chief executive the very first time its residents get a chance to vote. Puerto Rico was already a factor in the presidential race because of President Clinton's controversial decision to grant clemency to 16 Puerto Ricans convicted of terrorism. Republicans blasted the decision as aimed at winning Puerto Rican votes for Hillary Rodham Clinton in her U.S. Senate run in New York. Vice President Al Gore was silent on the controversy, while Gov. George W. Bush of Texas strongly condemned the decision to release the prisoners. Even if the Supreme Court acts before Election Day to quash the vote, the case could revive debate on the fractious issue of the commonwealth's political status . Like residents of other U.S. territories and the District of Columbia, Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens (since 1917) but have only a nonvoting representative in Congress. Unlike D.C., whose citizens received presidential voting rights in a 1961 constitutional amendment, Puerto Ricans can't vote in presidential elections. Past court challenges have failed to win presidential voting rights for Puerto Rico because of a fairly clear hurdle in the U.S. Constitution: Only states can choose electors. But the ruling by Judge Jaime Pieras treats this as a procedural issue that does not address an important question about what it means to be an American citizen. Pieras observes that Puerto Rican natives can participate in presidential elections when they live in U.S. states, but lose that right when they return to Puerto Rico . And residency isn't the basis for this right-Americans from other states who move to foreign countries are still allowed to vote in absentia. For an expatriate U.S. citizen who has spent his life abroad, the only places he could lose that right are Puerto Rico or another U.S. territory. "This is a fundamental issue of equality," said Alfonso Aguilar, who heads the commonwealth's Washington D.C., office. "Are there two types of U.S. citizens? Whatever happens with the appeals court, this is a question that people are going to have to answer." Not surprisingly, the case figures in the never-ending turmoil on the island over self - determination . In a series of referenda, a majority of Puerto Ricans has never endorsed statehood , but support has been growing. Gov. Pedro Rossello and his New Progressive Party back statehood and have joined the lawsuit, which was filed by 11 Puerto Rican citizens. The main opposition party, which doesn't want to lose certain benefits of commonwealth status (like exemption from most federal taxes), is treating the new decision as a ploy to advance statehood . The small minority on the island that favors independence from the United States is also hostile to the decision. Nevertheless, Puerto Ricans turn out for elections-82 percent of registered voters in 1996-and most analysts expect they will again, even if their votes are only symbolic. And if those eight electors counted? No one knows how the island would vote-the ruling party tends to lean Republican (though Rossello says he backs Democrats), and the opposition includes many businessmen who don't want to lose their tax privileges. Bush reportedly backs statehood for Puerto Rico (as did his father), but Gore favors the Democratic platform's endorsement of " self - determination ," which skirts the issue of what he'd do if Puerto Ricans endorsed statehood . Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore law professor, says that the court case may well succeed in forcing more debate about Puerto Rico . In 1993, Democrats in the House granted Puerto Rico 's House delegate a measure of voting rights, only to see Republicans challenge the move in court. Tiefer was deputy general counsel for the House at the time and defended the case successfully in court. (Republicans took back the lone delegate's vote when they took over the House in 1995.) "It still seems to me that this can accomplish something. It brought the issue to a debate. This [judge's] opinion can keep alive the debate over why U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico should be second class." Tiefer said that "going back to the Northwest Ordinance...the United States has been in the forefront of extending representation to populations initially outside the United States. Puerto Rico is the latest frontier."
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