Gore Could Have Won with Puerto Rico

by Kelly Virella

An August 29 court ruling had given Puerto Rico -- a U.S. territory with 2.4 million registered voters, 80 percent of whom would have supported Gore -- the right to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. But the Clinton-Gore Justice Department opposed the ruling, and appealed it to a higher court. The higher court overturned the lower court's ruling in mid-October, taking the vote away from Puerto Ricans again. That ultimately cost Gore eight electoral votes -- seven more than he needed to win the Presidency.

"While Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, the Constitution does not provide for residents of territories to be able to vote in Presidential elections," said Attorney General Janet Reno in response to the first decision, issued by the Federal District Court of Puerto Rico.

"Gore and Clinton gave up an opportunity for 8 electoral votes in Puerto Rico, " said Attorney Gregorio Iguartua, who was the lead plaintiff and counsel for Puerto Rican voters. "But they are victims of their own discrimination now."

Prior to the historic August 29 ruling, numerous other courts had denied Puerto Ricans the vote, on the grounds that the Constitution only allows U.S. states to choose Electoral College members. (Washington, D.C. is the only exception; a 1961 Constitutional amendment permits the District to send three electors). The Puerto Rico District Court bucked that tide by ruling that "the right to vote is a fundamental right of citizenship." But the Boston First Circuit Court, which heard the government's appeal, reaffirmed the judicial precedents. Puerto Rico must become a state or the U.S. Constitution must be amended, it said, before the island's citizens may participate in Presidential elections.

Ironically, "Any citizen of Puerto Rico who was born in Puerto Rico or in any other U.S. concern, can become the President," said Georgetown law professor Alex Aleinikoff, who studies the constitutional conundrums of America's relationship with Puerto Rico.

When it looked like they would have the vote, the Puerto Rico legislature commissioned the creation of 2.4 million Presidential ballots. Despite the higher court's unfavorable ruling, the governor of Puerto Rico still planned to distribute the ballots on election day to make a political statement. But the Puerto Rican legislature overruled the governor, ordering all of the ballots to be burned.

"It's a democratic holocaust," said Attorney Iguartua.

Clinton and Gore have said they will support the status option Puerto Ricans prefer, be it statehood, independence, or the status quo commonwealth. "We pledge to support the right of the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to choose freely, and in concert with the U.S. Congress, their relationship with the United States," the 2000 Democratic platform says.

But the GOP platform has outright endorsed statehood for Puerto Rico since Eisenhower was President, despite the risk that incorporating the island will tilt the balance of federal power to Democrats.

Ideological similarities between Republicans and Puerto Rico's pro-statehood party have traditionally been the basis for their odd alliance. But in a recent 222 page memorandum to Republicans on retooling their message, pollster Frank Luntz urged Republicans to support Puerto Rican self-determination in order to garner the Hispanic vote, according to the National Review.

During the election, Bush towed the party line, but did not upstage his father, who during his first State of the Union address called for statehood for Puerto Rico. When asked whether he was concerned that Puerto Rico would be a Democratic state, Governor Bush told reporters from Puerto Rico's largest newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, "I do not care about politics, I care about what is right. For Puerto Rico to be a state would be good."

Democrats and Republicans who do not support statehood for Puerto Rico fear that the island's economic problems and cultural differences would overwhelm the rest of the country. Puerto Rico's per capita income is about $7,000 per year -- half that of Mississippi, America's poorest state. Moreover, the island currently receives about $10 billion in federal transfers and pays no federal income taxes. The General Accounting Office has estimated that admitting Puerto Rico to the union would cost $3 to $4 billion per year.

On the other hand, campaign contributions from the poor island have been generous. About $353,000 flowed from Puerto Rico into the Gore campaign and the Democratic National Committee, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported on August 15. The paper also noted that Pedro Rossello, the island's governor, had raised at least $100,000 for the Vice President. Prior to the overturn of the lower court's decision, the Puerto Rican press was buzzing with speculation that Rossello might have been offered a Cabinet post for his efforts.

Now that Al Gore has conceded the election to George W. Bush, Puerto Ricans' efforts seem vain. Statehood still seems a far way off, and the only other option -- to win a constitutional amendment, like Washington DC won in 1961 -- would need to be passed by an overwhelming two-thirds of both houses of Congress. Furthermore, three-quarters of the states would have to ratify such an amendment. Considering that, 88 percent of stateside Americans don't even know that Puerto Rico is affiliated with the United States (according to a Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company survey), it is highly unlikely that enough states would ratify the amendment.

Even if Puerto Rico were miraculously granted the right to vote, some Puerto Ricans who favor independence for the island -- about three percent of the electorate according to the last plebiscite -- would refuse that right. "Our participation in U.S. politics is inconsequential," the leader of the independence party, Senator Manuel Rodriguez Oreanna said. "The American political system is little more than a clubhouse for the wealthy. Why would I want to participate?"