Although the previous two referendums (November 2012 and June 2017) also had ostensibly pro-statehood outcomes, The New York Times described them as "marred, with ballot language phrased to favor the party in office".[24]
For example, the fourth referendum, held in November 2012, asked voters (1) whether they wanted to maintain the current political status of Puerto Rico and, if not, (2) which alternative status they prefer.
Of the fifty-four percent (54.0%) who voted "No" on maintaining the status quo, 61.11% chose statehood, 33.34% chose free association, and 5.55% chose independence.[25][26][27][28] Opponents of statehood argued that these results did not show that a majority of Puerto Rican voters support statehood.
The June 2017 referendum was, according to TheNew York Times, a "flawed election" where the turnout was only 23%, in part because most statehood opponents sat out. 97% of votes cast favored statehood.[24] The November 2020 referendum was the first to ask voters a simple yes-or-no question: "Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?". There were 655,505 votes in favor of statehood (52.52%) and 592,671 votes opposed (47.48%), with a turnout of 1,248,476 voters out of the total population stated by census Population Estimates of 3,221,789 as of July 1, 2022.[29] The 55% turnout rate equaled that for the simultaneous 2020 gubernatorial race and the 2016 gubernatorial race.
^José Trías Monge. Puerto Rico : the trials of the oldest colony in the world. New Haven, CT; London, England : Yale University Press, 1999. p. 4.
^Colonialism in Puerto Rico. Pedro Caban. SUNY-Albany. Latin American, Caribbean, and US Latino Studies Faculty. 2015. p. 516. Accessed 13 September 2021.
^C.D. Burnett, et al., Foreign in a Domestic Sense: Puerto Rico, American Expansion, and the Constitution. Duke University Press. 2001. ISBN9780822326984
^"CEE Event". 64.185.222.182. Archived from the original on August 4, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
^"CEE Event". 64.185.222.182. Archived from the original on August 4, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
^"QuickFacts". www.census.gov. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
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