SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Puerto Ricans demanded answers Monday after clashing primary officials forced voters to cast their ballots at polling stations, an unusual decision called a battle for the democracy of American territory.
The island’s election commission remained silent as anger and embarrassment spread across Puerto Rico a day after hundreds of voters were turned away from closed centers that, for unknown reasons, received ballots a few hours late or never received them.
It was the first time that primaries were stopped and led many to worry that Puerto Ricans’ confidence in their government has eroded and that it could affect the outcome of the upcoming general elections in November on an island with a voter turnout of nearly 70%.
“That scar will never leave Puerto Rico,” said political analyst Domingo Emanuelli. “It was a hold of the country’s democracy.”
On Monday, Carlos Méndez, president of the island’s House of Representatives, demanded that the commission release the results from the nearly 60 of the 110 areas where voting could take place on Sunday.
Gov. Wanda Vázquez and other officials of the two main parties in Puerto Rico have also demanded the dismissal of Juan Ernesto Dávila, president of the Electoral Commission. He has repeatedly denied comments via a spokeswoman, but told WAPA TV on Monday that he thought the votes would go out in time and that the election commission officials of the two main parties he met with a day before the primaries never mentioned the possibility of delaying them. He also said it would not be responsible to avoid dismissal of an ongoing primary.
“When the primary process ends, I will analyze that,” he said.
Meanwhile, questions about why Puerto Rico held a primary as ballots were unavailable and how it was possible that no one knew about the problem until it was too late were left unanswered.
Election commission officials for the pro-statehood New Progressive Party and the main opposition Popular Democratic Party did not return calls or messages for comment.
The primary is one of the most visited races in the island’s history, as it pitched two candidates who served as replacement governors following last year’s political unrest. Vázquez faces off against Pedro Pierluisi, who represented Puerto Rico in Congress from 2009 to 2017.
Pierluisi served briefly as governor after Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned in August 2019 after widespread street protests over a lousy conversation that was leaked and government corruption. But the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico ruled that Vázquez, then the secretary of justice, was constitutionally next to the rule because there was no secretary of state.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, which supports Puerto Rico’s current political status as American territory, is holding a primary for the first time in its 82-year history. Three people are fighting to become governor – San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, known for her public outcry with President Donald Trump following the devastation of Hurricane Maria; Puerto Rico Sen. Eduardo Bhatia; and Carlos Delgado, Mayor of the Northwest Coast City of Isabela.
A federal inspectorate overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances has denied allegations that the Electoral Commission did not have enough funding, saying it approved all of its funding requests.
“The disruptions … are the result (of) inefficient organization at an agency that struggled just two weeks ago to procure the printing of ballot papers for an election that was originally scheduled to take place on June 7,” the board said. in a statement. “The State Electoral Commission has enough money, and it has more than enough staff to carry out the one task for which it is responsible.”
While another primary is scheduled for Aug. 16, some expect lawsuits and legal loopholes could potentially upset those plans.
Edgardo Román, president of the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, said the situation is in a legal gray area. A new date should be set for those who did not have a chance to vote because the votes never arrived, he said, but it is less clear what will happen to those who did not return to the polls to vote, because they did not find out at the time the ballot box finally arrived.
“Everything has been abrupt before,” he said. “We have had the worst election experience in the history of Puerto Rico.”
Vázquez has asked the State Election Commission (CEE) to move the primaries to Tuesday or Wednesday during a radio interview, Telemundo reported. At least one voter filed a lawsuit against the commission and the election officials of the two main parties late Sunday through the American Civil Liberties Union. Pierluisi has also filed a lawsuit against the commission and the two officials, as he rejected his decision of next Sunday another primary.
The political turnaround was demoralizing for some, but Gireliz Zambrana, a 31-year-old federal employee who was not given a chance to vote on Sunday, said he would try again on August 16, although he is frustrated and said something about it. happened is irrational.
He stressed that the situation in Puerto Rico had to change: the island is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria and a series of strong earthquakes amid a pandemic and a 13-year economic recession.
“One has to go out and vote,” he said. “The only way to solve all this is to kick people out.”
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