Puerto Ricans voted in favor of becoming the 51st state on Sunday. But Congress still gets the final say.
Puerto Ricans voted overwhelmingly Sunday in support of becoming the 51st US state, reigniting the uneasy debate over the political status of the country's oldest and largest territory.
People walking through the streets of the old town in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images
The Caribbean island has been under US control since 1898 following the Spanish-American War. In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship. The island became an official US commonwealth in 1952, meaning that it has its own constitution and its residents vote for their own governor.
Still Puerto Ricans are not granted all the same rights as Americans living in a US state. They can't vote in the general election for the US president and they get only one nonvoting representative in Congress. On the plus side, they do not have to pay federal income tax. Puerto Rico receives some funding for highways and social programs, but not as much as a state. They also get military protection from the US.
The commonwealth voted between remaining a commonwealth, becoming a state, becoming an independent nation, or entering a "free association" agreement with the US. The latter option would mean the island would still receive military protection and funding from the US.
This is actually the fifth time that the island has voted on whether to change their relationship with the US. Puerto Rico voted against statehood three times — in 1967, 1993, and 1998 — but voted for the first time in 2012 to become a state. Ultimately, nothing happened with the vote, and many argued it was moot since one-third of ballots were left blank for a question that asked if residents favored statehood, according to CNN.
This time nearly half a million voters said yes to statehood, about 7,600 for free association/independence, and nearly 6,700 for the current territorial status, the Associated Press reported, according to early election results. Still, voter turn out was very low, even when compared to the 2012 referendum, leading opponents to question the legitimacy of the vote.
People walk past murals protesting the state of economy in San Juan.
Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/2rbZAJl
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