Federal voting rights in Puerto Rico facts for kids

United States citizens living in Puerto Rico, like those in other U.S. territories, have different voting rights compared to citizens in the fifty states and District of Columbia. People in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories cannot vote for the U.S. President through the Electoral College. They also do not have voting representatives in the United States Congress.

The U.S. Constitution says that members of Congress are elected by direct vote in the states. It also says that the President and Vice President are chosen by electors from the states. Puerto Rico is a territory, not a state, so these rules apply differently.

Puerto Rico is under the U.S. federal government's authority. It has some self-rule given by Congress, but Congress still has a lot of power over it. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Puerto Rico has a Resident Commissioner. This person can speak and vote in House committees and on some procedural matters, but they cannot vote on the final laws passed by the House. Other U.S. territories and Washington, D.C., have similar representatives called Delegates.

The fact that U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico don't have full voting representation in Congress has been an issue since they became U.S. citizens in 1917. Legal challenges have not changed this situation.

Even though they can't vote in the main presidential election, Puerto Rico does hold presidential primary elections. In these primaries, political parties choose delegates who vote for their preferred candidate at the national conventions. However, this is where their participation in the presidential election ends.

Understanding U.S. Territories and Voting

Puerto Rico is an insular area. This means it's a U.S. territory that isn't one of the fifty states or the District of Columbia. Other insular areas include the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

People living in these areas cannot choose electors for U.S. presidential elections. They also can't elect members of the U.S. Congress who can vote on laws. This rule comes from the U.S. Constitution. It says that electors are chosen by "the People of the several States."

In 1961, the 23rd Amendment gave Washington, D.C., the right to choose electors. However, this amendment did not include the insular areas like Puerto Rico.

Efforts to Gain Voting Rights

On December 29, 2003, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (part of the Organization of American States) said that the United States was violating the rights of District of Columbia citizens by not letting them fully participate in their federal legislature.

Later, on October 17, 2006, Pedro Rosselló, a former governor of Puerto Rico, and a committee asked the same Commission for help. They wanted to gain full voting rights for the nearly four million U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico.

Why Citizens in Puerto Rico Cannot Vote in Federal Elections

Any U.S. citizen living in Puerto Rico cannot vote in national elections for President or voting members of Congress. This is also true for U.S. citizens in other U.S. unincorporated territories. Even though the Republican and Democratic parties in Puerto Rico select delegates for presidential primaries, these citizens cannot vote in the general federal elections if they don't live in one of the 50 states or Washington, D.C.

Political parties in Puerto Rico, like the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the New Progressive Party, disagree with this situation. The Popular Democratic Party also wants to fix these "deficits of democracy."

In 2003, a lawyer named Gregorio Igartúa and others filed a lawsuit. They wanted U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico to have the right to vote for the U.S. President and Vice President.

The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in 2005 that the Constitution does not give this right to citizens in Puerto Rico. The court explained that voting for President is controlled by the Constitution, which says electors are appointed by each "State." Since Puerto Rico is not a state, this right does not apply.

One judge, Juan Torruella, disagreed with this decision. He argued that the court should protect the civil rights of the four million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico who lack political recourse. He felt the majority was avoiding its duty to do justice.

Later Court Cases and Opinions

In 2008, Gregorio Igartúa filed another lawsuit. This time, he and others claimed that U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico should have the right to vote for a Representative to the U.S. House of Representatives from Puerto Rico.

In 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit again ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not give Puerto Rico residents the right to vote for members of the House of Representatives because Puerto Rico is not a state.

Judge Lipez, while agreeing with the ruling, wrote that the issue of federal voting rights for Puerto Rico's citizens is still a "compelling legal problem." He believed the court should reconsider the issue because it's deeply troubling that voting rights are not equal among all citizens.

Judge Torruella also wrote a strong dissenting opinion. He stated that the political inequality for the four million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico is a "fundamental constitutional question" that won't go away. He criticized the courts for allowing this "stigma of inferiority" to continue for over a hundred years. He compared it to racial segregation, which was once accepted but is now seen as wrong. He argued that these outdated rules should not remain in place when unequal treatment of American citizens is no longer acceptable.

In 1961, the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution allowed U.S. citizens in Washington, D.C., to vote for President. As of 2009, there was a bill in Congress to allow D.C. residents to vote for members of the House of Representatives. However, the U.S. has not taken similar steps for the four million U.S. citizens living in its territories, including nearly three million in Puerto Rico. Judge Juan R. Torruella believes this inaction goes against the United States' international obligations.

In August 2017, the First Circuit Court rejected another lawsuit by Igartúa. This lawsuit challenged Puerto Rico's exclusion from United States congressional apportionment (how congressional seats are divided). Judges Torruella, Kermit Lipez, and Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson again disagreed with the majority decision.