Puerto Rican voters seemed to be on track to choose statehood over both independence and the status quo in overwhelming numbers Sunday, but the referendum isn’t expected to actually change the financially-challenged island’s status.
With 500 precincts (or units, as they’re called in Puerto Rico) left to report as of 4:35 p.m. ET, 97 percent of voters picked statehood.
The referendum is non-binding and Congress would have to approve it, which election observers say is doubtful at a time when Puerto Rico is facing a debt and unemployment crisis.
Under the current system, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory whose 3.5 million citizens are American but do not pay federal taxes, vote for U.S. presidents or receive proportional federal funding on programs like Medicaid.
For Puerto Rico, statehood would mean the island — which has $70 billion in debt and a 45 percent poverty rate — would have more access to federal funds and be considered the same as any other U.S. state.
This year’s referendum on statehood was Puerto Rico’s fifth. Statehood won for the first time in the last vote, in 2012, but the results were questioned and Puerto Rico’s status remained the same.
Turnout in the election was low, with initial statistics showing below 25 percent of voters went to the polls. The island’s major opposition party, the Popular Democratic Party, boycotted the election. Two other political parties that don’t support statehood also boycotted the election.
The Department of Justice did not back the referendum.
The ballot this year asked voters if they wanted statehood, independence or to remain a territory of the United States.
Last summer, Congress passed and then-President Barack Obama signed legislation to address Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis. The bill allowed Puerto Rico to undertake bankruptcy-like proceedings to relieve its debt load, and created an oversight board charged with carrying out a financial overhaul of the island.
In May, Puerto Rico’s oversight board finally filed for a form of bankruptcy, as last year’s rescue law — known as PROMESA — allowed for.
