JayMar mentioned in an email that the radio stations in Puerto Rico are not interested in the election. There is a reason.<\/p>\n
People born in Puerto Rico (ignoring military bases) have a peculiar legal status. They are US citizens, but are not residents of the United States if they live in Puerto Rico. Because Puerto Rico is not a state, they get no electoral votes. As a result, they don’t vote in the election. The same is true for Guam, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa and other US controlled territories. DC was in a similar situation until a Constitutional amendment was passed granting them status as a state for purposes of the Presidential election.<\/p>\n
But Puerto Ricans can vote for President, as long as they don’t live in Puerto Rico. Like US citizens that reside outside the country, they can request an absentee ballot from the last state they claimed to be a resident of. New York would be a popular choice – however, if a person votes as a non-resident, they could make themselves subject to state income tax. Florida has no state income tax.<\/p>\n
There is a process for this – in 1986, the Reagan administration passed the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act<\/a>, primarily intended to help US citizens in the military or civilian agencies of the US government to vote in the Presidential election, but it applies also to American citizens living outside the United States. To vote absentee, the person had to request a ballot from the last state where they claimed to be a Resident 50 days before the election. That gives time for the state to decide if they are really qualified to vote. If the state agrees, they mail out a ballot and it must be postmarked by November 8th.<\/p>\n The US embassies play a role in facilitating this process, but since Puerto Rico is not a foreign country, they do not have an embassy. It has been said it is easier for a Puerto Rican to vote for President from London than from San Juan, because states are more likely to scrutinize and reject a request for a ballot with a mailing address in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n If you were paying attention, US territories did vote in the primaries and had delegates in the political conventions – so while they played a role in choosing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, they do not generally vote in the November election unless they actually live in the 58 states of America.. There is an election process in Puerto Rico on November 8th to elect leaders of Puerto Rico, but not President of the United States.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.fvap.gov\/puerto-rico<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" JayMar mentioned in an email that the radio stations in Puerto Rico are not interested in the election. There is a reason. People born in Puerto Rico (ignoring military bases) have a peculiar legal status. They are US citizens, but … Continue reading