 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Results by municipality | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Puerto Rico |
|---|
 |
A referendum of the status of Puerto Rico was held on November 3, 2020, concurrently with the general election. The Referendum was announced by Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced on May 16, 2020. This was the sixth referendum held on the status of Puerto Rico, with the previous one having taken place in 2017. This was the first referendum with a simple yes-or-no question, with voters having the option of voting for or against becoming a U.S. state. The New Progressive Party (PNP), of whom Vázquez is a member, supports statehood, while the opposition Popular Democratic Party (PDP) and Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) oppose it.
The referendum was non-binding, as the power to grant statehood lies with the US Congress. The referendum was not approved by the US Department of Justice under the Trump administration. The party platforms of both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have affirmed for decades Puerto Rico's right to self-determination and to be admitted as a state, at least in theory, but individual Republican legislators have been more skeptical. For example, then Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2019 refused to allow a statehood vote in the Senate and called statehood for Puerto Rico "government overreach."[1]
The option to pursue statehood won the referendum with 53% of the vote.[2]
- ^ Varela, Julio Ricardo. "Is Puerto Rico having a defining vote on statehood? No, it's just a political stunt". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
- ^ "Plebiscito Resulatados Isal" [Island Plesbiscite Results]. Comisión Estatal de Elecciones [Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2020.