In democracies that will hold elections this year, one thing is on the mind of every election official: how to safeguard the democratic process while also safeguarding the lives of every person exercising the right to vote.
This is true in Puerto Rico, which on Sunday held primaries for our local political parties in preparation for our general election on Nov. 3. Unfortunately, however, what was supposed to be an expression of democracy turned out to be an unprecedented and disgraceful farce. The primaries were canceled for a lack of ballots.
The genesis of the crisis that currently engulfs the enchanted island begins with the coronavirus. This public health crisis led the legislature to pass and the governor to sign a bill that moved the primary to Sunday. It was believed this would leave enough time for the local election agency to prepare fully for the electoral event, taking into account the required safety measures.
However, problems began to emerge just one week before the primaries. The main opposition party president, Anibal Jose Torres, alleged that there were shortages of election machines, ballots, etc. This warning fell on deaf ears within the leadership of the electoral commission headed by President Juan Davila.
On Sunday, the day of the election, many of the 110 electoral precincts and their voting centers opened late or did not receive ballots. Trucks filled with ballots left late or did not arrive at their respective voting centers. Thousands of voters went to cast their ballots, exposing themselves for hours to the coronavirus, only to find in the end that they could not vote.
The presidents of both major parties and the commission itself reacted to this botched electoral event by canceling the process and scheduling for the precincts that did not open to allow voting the following Sunday. This decision, of course, has led to accusations that the process was illegal.
Puerto Rico now faces an extraordinary crisis. Candidates are heading to the courts, where unelected judges will decide an especially important constitutional issue, embroiling the courts in an extremely dangerous and volatile political situation. Likewise, the purity, safety, and integrity of the process are now being questioned. The leading opposition gubernatorial candidate has accused Gov. Wanda Vazquez of “killing democracy.”
Despite this shameful episode highlighted in the major news in the U.S., the crisis now engulfing the island reveals a deep problem of governance within the entire governmental structure of the island. Just a few weeks ago, with only a tropical storm passing close to the island, the government-owned electrical power company struggled to return power to thousands of customers for the island. The democratic and governance crisis exposes how politics have clearly rotted the Puerto Rican government, which seems incapable of handling an electoral event or just about anything else.
Puerto Ricans deserve better. Since Hurricane Maria in 2017, the scandals that have engulfed the government have been numerous. A sitting governor was forced to resign, and the current governor is currently facing an investigation.
The electoral process provides our citizens with the opportunity “to clean house” by voting for positive, lasting, or meaningful change. However, even this is being denied to them now by a clearly incompetent electoral commission and a scarred and damaged government by the New Progressive Party.
This democratic crisis, however, can be an opportunity for a restoration in the hopes and dreams of the Puerto Rican people. Perhaps this debacle can become an opportunity for much needed reform in the electoral process and the way our government works. But such things can only be done when people are able to vote.
Ojel L. Rodriguez (@ojelrodriguez) is a freelance writer and graduate student from University College London.
