Puerto Rico Needs To Make Up Its Mind

This past Sunday, Puerto Ricans went to the polls to vote in a referendum on whether the island—currently a U.S. territory, should become an independent nation or the 51^st state in the Union. Ninety-seven percent of voters in Sunday’s referendum favored statehood, as does the current governor—but turnout was low, due to a boycott of the vote by several opposition groups, so the importance of that 97% figure is open to interpretation, to say the least.

There are strong arguments on both sides of the independence versus statehood question—arguments of culture and identity, economic well-being, and political representation, as well as the electoral effects of admitting a new state for the first time in over half a century (the addition of Puerto Rico as a state would require the addition of two U.S. Senators, the redistribution of five House seats, and a new block of seven votes in the Electoral College). At some point I’ll look at how these changes would affect national politics. For now, however, I’ll content myself with saying that it should be the citizens of Puerto Rico themselves that make a final determination—and stick with it.

The island has held five separate statehood referendums over the past few decades, two in just the last five years. There seem to be legitimate questions about whether the most recent vote was an accurate representation of the will of Puerto Ricans (how often does any election see 97% of the voting populace agree on something?), but the multiple, nonbinding votes are becoming a waste of both time and money on an island currently struggling with massive debt.

What Puerto Rico should do is have a final, binding referendum, supported by all of the various political factions and free of the taint of any large-scale boycott efforts. The leadership of the island should agree that whatever the outcome of this final referendum—statehood, independence, or the status quo—it will be presented as the unified voice of Puerto Rico. If the consensus is a request for statehood or independence, Congress may then begin to take formal action. But either way, the question should not be endlessly litigated. Whatever the decision of the people may be, they need to be allowed to come to a final consensus, so that political leaders can focus on the island’s numerous other pressing issues.