Territories

President Clinton's visit to Puerto Rico marks the beginning of a process in which the commonwealth may significantly weigh in on a U.S. election.  Territories, some of which are sovereign provinces but all of which are part of the U.S., will not have a true voice in the November election.

The two territories left on the calendar - Guam and Puerto Rico - are home to populations who are granted U.S. citizenship.  But because these are not incorporated territories, they are not allocated electoral votes.

So for perhaps the first time ever, they will have a meaningful voice in the presidential nomination process because where they lack in electoral votes, they make up for in national Party delegates.  And at 63 delegates, the delegate strength of Puerto Rico is greater than that of 33 other states.

Comments

[Toonces]

So, do you know why Puerto Rico has so many delegates? I remember hearing about a bonus for putting your primary late in the season...

[Mr Super]

Good question - I meant to include that in the original post.

Delegates are allocated on the basis of democratic performance (how well Democrats are supported in elections) and Democratic registration. Which is why you could see states which have the same number of electoral votes have varying numbers of delegates assigned to them. A good example could be Arizona and Minnesota, which have 10 electoral votes each, but due to the outlined allocation factors are granted 67 and 88 delegates accordingly.

In the case of Puerto Rico, which has a population of nearly 4 million people, it is a little bit bigger in population than Oregon (65 delegates) and a little bit smaller than Kentucky (60 delegates). Oregon, though smaller than Kentucky, benefits in added delegates because it has voted Democratic in more presidential elections than Kentucky has in recent years.

So while PR does not receive electoral votes, they do get credit for their previous popular vote participation.

[Dan_in_upstate_NY]

Question: do you think that it's a good thing for these territories to have such a weighty influence? And if not, do you think that we're going to see a push to have undeclared superdelegates state their preference prior to June 1?

[Mr Super]

I will admit that at first glance, the idea of territories weighing in was a bit troublesome to me. But the more I've consulted with people who know more about this subject than I do - and the more I've learned about territories the more fascinated I've become by the issue.

The population of these territories are in fact US citizens - and just because they do not have statehood shouldn't create a barrier for them to participate (it certainly doesn't stop voters in Washington, DC). If anything, I think it brings added and much needed attention to the subject of territories into the national conversation. The fact that Puerto Rico has so many delegates should be a signal to the mainland that we have nearly 4 million citizens living in a commonwealth of the United States. I'm not sure that this is widely known.

[jakester]

This election is quickly jumping the shark.

[Brian Dell]

The adjustment for how blue a state is in the number of delegates up for grabs suggests that nominees who win red states in the primaries are already having their win discounted somewhat. This should be considered when discussing just how much discounting is in order.

[Sabutai]

"Territories"? Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, which is an entirely separate legal status. Proof of this is the fact that many officials in Guam hope to go from "territory" status to "commonwealth" status despite earlier federal rejection. Puerto Rico is no more and American territory than is Prince Edward Island.

[Mr Super]

There are different types of territories, and in this case Puerto Rico, which is also a commonwealth, is a special case of an "organized territory."

Sources are here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico

"officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico...is a semi-autonomous territory of the United States."

And here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territories_of_the_united_states

"Conversely, a territory can be organized without being an incorporated territory, a contemporary example being Puerto Rico."

"Additionally, Guam and the United States Virgin Islands are organized territories, but they are neither incorporated nor considered commonwealths."