On July 1, Puerto Rico Governor Pierluisi announced that that a plebiscite will take place on November 5, 2024 – Election Day – to ascertain voters’ prefered relationship with the United States. It will be Puerto Rico’s seventh plebiscite.
The plebiscite ballot will be the one described in the pending Puerto Rico Status Act: a choice between statehood and independence, with a third option of independence along with an option for sovereign free association.
Why hold another referendum?
A statement from the governor’s office says, “[We] will not cease in our fight. In close attention to the will of the people expressed in the past plebiscites, we are compelled to continue our journey and keep raising our voice until our claim is heard and validated… [W]e shall use any tools available to further our cause and put an end to our territorial, colonial, and undignified relationship.”
The seventh plebiscite is intended to show the commitment of the people of Puerto Rico to gain self-determination.
“The decision to hold this vote shows the pressing need to continue offering voters of all political ideologies in Puerto Rico a means to express their desire to end the island’s current territorial status and to put pressure on Congress to take action,” said George Laws Garcia, Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Statehood Council (PRSC). “The PRSC supports this legitimate exercise of self-determination and unequivocally supports statehood as the best option for both Puerto Rico and the U.S. However, our main priority will be to continue to advance legislation in Congress to offer Puerto Rican voters a definitive and legally binding vote. In order to achieve this goal, it is paramount that Puerto Ricans continue the fight to advance statehood through every democratic tool available to us, which underscores the importance of this plebiscite.”
Jesús Manuel Ortiz, president of the pro-commonwealth Popular Democratic Party (which is not affiliated with the U.S. Democratic Party), said in a statement: “These elections are about deciding the future of Puerto Rico’s reconstruction, the health system, education, and the disastrous service of LUMA. This election is not about political agendas; it is about addressing the well-being of families and the country we want to build.” This suggests a rejection of the new referendum, as well as a contention that Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States, is on a path to independence.
Will there be a boycott?
The PDP has called for boycotts of plebiscites in the past to decrease voter turnout and attempt to minimize the credibility of the results.
Perhaps mindful of this history, the governor’s statement is explicit that “the absence of voters in the election or void or blank ballots cast shall never be used to suppress the intent of voters who democratically, voluntarily, and validly exercised their right.”
