Posted by bagchucker on 9/22/2020 7:30:00 PM (view original):
they're voting on it again in November
last time (2017) it was majority pro-statehood but the anti- party boycotted, so...
the play good beisbol there is why we should make it a state
i'm lookin at you too Japan
This referendum is also going to be nonsense. It's the ballot measure version of gerrymandering.
In past referenda, there have been 3 voting options - apply for statehood, seek independence, and retain the status quo as a semi-autonomous US territory. Typically, that last option has been the plurality choice; independence is increasingly unpopular. This isn't particularly surprising. Independence would likely be harmful to the tourism industry, make travel more difficult, and probably be a general negative for the economy. As came up a few weeks ago, Puerto Rico is poorer than any US state, but richer than any independent Latin state. They have little incentive to move in that direction.
Puerto Rico has 2 important political parties. One party promotes statehood. The other embraces the status quo. At the moment, the former party has control of the government. They unilaterally created the referendum. This referendum has only 2 options. They've removed the most popular option - and the one that's the official position of the opposition party - and only listed independence and statehood as options. It has the look of an ultimatum, but it's more likely just a political play - they believe that pushing people to vote for statehood, because it's seen as better than independence, will also help their candidates on the ballot.
So yeah, it's the ballot measure version of gerrymandering. The party in power set it up in a weird, nonintuitive way because they think it will help them consolidate political control.