Puerto Ricans, Media Keep Eyes on Island's Unique Primary Election

As Barack Obama came within striking distance of securing enough delegates to claim the democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton won a solid 68 percent of the votes cast in Puerto Rico's June 1 primary election. 

The U.S. commonwealth gained significant media attention as islanders weighed in on an historic mainland political battle, but Puerto Ricans remain without representation in Congress and unable to vote in the November presidential election.

The comparably low voter turnout struck Luis Rivera of Virginia Beach.  "Puerto Ricans take politics very seriously -- elections have huge turnouts compared to the mainland," he said.  "Something like 80 percent of the population comes out to vote in local elections.   In this particular primary election, the turnout was very low -- close to 17 percent." 

Rosie Garcia, of San Juan, Puerto Rico wrote in an e-mail, "I chose not to vote yesterday, because if we can't vote for the major elections in November then for me it was a waste of time to vote in the primary."  Garcia estimated that out of 2.5 million eligible voters, the number who actually voted was around 300,000, despite a strong presence by both Obama and Clinton on the island weeks ahead of the vote. 

"The turnout tells me that this time around people didn't feel the primary election was going to help them in any particular way," Rivera said. 

Bob Rodriguez of Newport News spoke to his brother, a Clinton supporter, who lives on the island.  Rodriguez and his brother believe Clinton enjoys wide support in Puerto Rico in large part because Former President Bill Clinton was very popular there.  "Many people remember the [Bill] Clinton years as being very good for the island," Rodriguez said.  "Things went downhill under Bush; now the economy is devastated.  People want to go back to the Clinton years."  Rodriguez also observed that Puerto Ricans "are very traditional in their way of thinking," and "won't accept Barrack Obama's idea of change unless it has been proven." 

"She [Clinton] has done things to help Puerto Ricans in her state," Rivera added.  "She kept reminding people on the island of the things she had done -- what happens in New York affects them."

Rivera noted that the San Juan Star wrote an editorial in favor of Obama, and Garcia recalled receiving a recorded phone message from Governor Annibal Acevedo Vila urging Puerto Ricans to vote for Obama. 

Garcia called the events leading up to the election a "quiet campaign."  "By that I mean that it wasn't the typical Puerto Rico style with the caravans of cars and yelling from the loud speakers and stopping traffic to make people listen. There was a lot of distribution of buttons and papers."

The Blog Latin Gossip described Friday night's festivities, when Clinton joined Reggaeton artists Rakim y Ken-Y onstage as they performed their hit "Down".  "Her rhythm is as bad as you imagine it is, but at least she made an attempt," the bloggers observed. 

Lizzette Gil, of Virginia Beach learned that her father had opted not to vote in the primary over the phone.   "My dad is always on top of whatever is going on politically on the island," she said.  "In a way it was somewhat surprising to hear him say he was not going to vote because my dad ALWAYS votes. He takes that right very seriously. However he mentioned to me that there was no sense in voting in a USA primary if Puerto Ricans have no right to vote for a USA presidential candidate."

-Idalia Rosa-Martinez contributed reporting.

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