Over 1.7 million people answered this first question, which is about 75 percent of registered voters on the island. Fifty-four percent said they did not want the current status to continue, while 46 percent said they did.

Those voting against the current status included statehood supporters, as well as advocates of independence and nationhood in free association with the U.S. These three groups have different visions for Puerto Rico’s future, but are united in their opposition to the current status, which is colonial in nature. None U.S. Citizen would accept this status for their state, so they should respect that Puerto Rico no longer accept it either.

The second question in the referendum, where voters expressed their preference among the viable alternatives to the current status. Over 1.3 million people chose an option. Sixty-one percent voted for statehood; 33 percent for free association; and 5.5 percent for independence.

Critically, the 824,000-plus votes for statehood exceed the 817,000 votes for the current status on the first question. For the first time ever, more people in Puerto Rico want to be a state — the status I support — than to continue as a territory. This fact reveals the “statehood was defeated” thesis to be mere wishful thinking .

Others seek to downplay the results of the second question by noting that 480,000 voters did not provide an answer, but this argument falls flat. In our democracy, outcomes are determined by ballots properly cast. Power rests with the citizen who votes, not the one who declines to choose from among the options provided. That is because it is impossible to divine voter intent from a blank ballot.

We can speculate that some voters left the second question blank because they prefer the current status to its alternatives. Those voters were able to vote for the current status in the first question, so their viewpoint was reflected in the results. Others may have declined to answer because they thought another option should have been on the ballot—a best-of-all-worlds proposal promoted by a political party in Puerto Rico called “Enhanced Commonwealth.” But the last four presidential administrations have rejected this proposal, as have all key congressional leaders. A blank vote to protest the exclusion of an impossible proposal is entitled to no weight.

Sí/Yes No/No

The results of this part were the following:

Yes : 816,978 votes / 1,854,916 = 44.0%
No: 958,915 votes / 1,854,916 = 51.7%
Unmarked: 65,863 / 1,854,916 = 3.6%
Protested: 13,160 / 1,854,916 = .7%
———— ———
1,854,916 100%

The second part of the ballot stated: “Regardless of your selection in the first question, please mark which of the following non-territorial option would you prefer.” And it had three options: statehood, independence and sovereign commonwealth.

The result of the second part of the ballot was as follows:

Estadidad (Statehood) : 824,195 votes / 1,847,961 = 43.4%
Independencia (Independence) : 74,812 votes / 1,847,961 = 4.0%
ELA Soberano (Sovereign Commonwealth) : 449,679 votes / 1,847,961 = 24.3%
En blanco (Unmarked) : 480,918 / 1,847,961 = 26.0%
Protestadas Protested) : 18,357 / 1,847,961 = 1.0%
————
Total voters 1,847,961

The Electoral Commision did not count the ballots that were deposited unmarked or protested, that is why statehood comes with 61% of the votes. If all the votes were counted statehood will come with only 44.6% of the vote.

The result in the first part reflects that voters voted against the current status.

The second part, which as the ballot instructions said is totally independent of the first question, out of a total of 1,797,807 ballots, 802,179 voters favored statehood. That’s a 44.6% votes in favor of statehood. The reason for the high number of unmarked and protested ballots was that the Popular Democratic Party and other political movements encouraged their militants to leave this question without voting marking it or protesting it by writing some message of protest.

To say that statehood was favored is totally incorrect. The party that advocates statehood for Puerto Rico, the New Progressive Party have never accepted a YES or NO referendum on the status of Puerto Rico.

Not exactly true. People in Puerto Rico don’t pay federal *income* taxes, but they don’t get full participation in federal programs like medicare/medicaid either, having to fund the vast majority of it themselves using their own tax system. Of course, they do get programs like defense essentially for free, but the federal income tax would mostly fall on wealthy Puerto Ricans anyway. They do, however, have equal participation in the Social Security system, and pay payroll taxes – which are a larger burden than income taxes for most working class families.

The 66% was not of the 54%. The second ballot question was open to the who voted to stay the same.

look at puerto rico statistics for imports and exports and how the US takes moeny from them and gives them back a lousy 15 billion

-Puerto Ricans do pay Federal taxes. They also pay taxes on all imports and exports. They pay property taxes if they rent a property or use it for agriculture.

-Because of trade restrictions, Puerto Ricans cannot export goods oversweas, thereby limiting economic growth.

-Puerto Ricans cannot claim exemptions and do file income taxes yearly.

-Puerto Ricans currently have no representation in the house or congress.

Quit spreading misinformation about Puerto Ricans. Do the research, get the facts straight, and then comment. Taxation without representation is part of the First Amendment of the U.S Constitution. Therefore their continued status in the face of all these taxes in unconstitutional and a violation of Puerto Rican’s first amendment rights. Either exempt all Puerto Ricans from having to pay taxes or make them a state, like they deserve.

Right now they have all the same rights as a US state except voting for president.
But they also DO NOT PAY FEDERAL TAXES. So why would the population wish to start paying federal taxes when IF all they want to do is vote for president they come to the mainland register somwhere and do absent ballot…