By DÁNICA COTO, Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico is holding an election that will be historic regardless of which of the top two gubernatorial candidates wins.
If Jenniffer González If the pro-state New Progressive Party wins Tuesday’s elections, it will be the first time in the island’s history that the party has secured three consecutive terms.
If Juan Dalmau, who is running for Puerto Rico’s Independence Party and Citizen Victory Movement, wins, it will be the first victory for a candidate who does not represent either of the two main parties that have dominated the island’s politics for decades.
González and Dalmau follow Jesús Manuel Ortiz of the People’s Democratic Party, who supports the island’s territorial status, in the polls. Also active is Javier Jiménez of Project Dignity, a conservative party founded in 2019.
For decades, the New Progressive Party and the Popular Democratic Party would receive at least 90% of all votes, but that began to change in 2016, as newer parties attracted more voters amid economic and political turmoil.
“That has been a very big change,” says Jorge Schmidt Nieto, political analyst and university professor.
Delayed results
Results are not expected by late Tuesday, with analysts warning it could be a few days before that happens. During the 2020 election, it took four days for officials to announce preliminary results.
Puerto Rico’s state elections commission is still counting more than 220,000 early and absentee votes, with officials from several political parties noting the process is slow. The counting of those votes started more than two weeks later than usual.
Jessika Padilla, deputy chairwoman of the commission, said at a news conference that about 40% of those votes had been counted on Monday.
“This validation process is one that we will not take lightly,” she said.
More than 5,000 prisoners out of about 7,400 total in Puerto Rico also voted, although it is unclear how many of those votes have been counted.
The commission and other officials also continue to receive allegations of electoral crimes, including from people who say they received confirmations for early voting when they made no such request.
In the meantime, energy generators have been sent to more than twenty polling stations to guarantee electricity chronic power outages that have plagued Puerto Rico in recent years.
A status question and a symbolic vote
Voters will also be asked about Puerto Rico’s political status for the seventh time on Tuesday. The non-binding referendum offers three options: statehood, independence, and independence with free association, negotiating issues such as foreign affairs, U.S. citizenship, and the use of the U.S. dollar.
Regardless of the outcome, a change of status requires the approval of the U.S. Congress.
Additionally, Puerto Ricans can support Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in a symbolic vote on Tuesday if they wish. While Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, they are on the island are not allowed to vote in the US presidential elections.
Nearly 2 million voters are eligible to participate in Tuesday’s election, although it remains to be seen how many will do so. Voter apathy has dominated recent elections.