So on November 6 a lot of elections were held...Presidential, Senate, House, Gubernatorial, etc. But one election in particular might seem to have a bearing on the future of the Puerto Rican baseball team: the fourth referendum on Puerto Rico's status.
Unlike the previous referenda this was a two part poll which first asked voters if they wanted to maintain the status quo (the current territorial status under the constitution of the commonwealth of puerto rico) and then asked which non-territorial status they would prefer (statehood, free associated statehood or independence) regardless of the result of the first question. Leading up to the actual vote no option was expected to get a majority (though a couple of polls had statehood just gaining 50% of the vote).
But now it seems that as a result of an attempted protest in which voters supportive of the current status were encouraged to leave ballots blank on the second question; the results of the referendum were:
For the first question of maintaining the status quo: 934,238 (53.99% of the valid votes) voted "No"; 796,007 (46.01% of the valid votes) voted "Yes" and 64,123 (3.5% of the total votes) ballots were left blank
For the second question: 802,179 (61.15% of the valid votes) voted for "statehood"; 436,997 (33.31% of the valid votes) voted "sovereign free associated state"; 72,551 (5.53% of the valid votes) voted for "independence" and a whopping 468,478 (25.64% of the total votes) ballots were left blank
Thus statehood has gained a 60+% majority in this referendum and both presidential candidates and parties have said they would support statehood for Puerto Rico if a clear majority favoured it. I'm not sure if the blank ballot protest would be taken into account (additionally the pro-statehood governor lost the gubernatorial election on the same day); but if the current pro-statehood governor were to use the remainder of his term to get the ball rolling and statehood legislation was introduced in Congress...and it gained the support of most members and the President..then Puerto Rico should become a state (maybe in a year at least but perhaps in three years)
If so what will happen to the Puerto Rican baseball team? Would they still be able to compete in international tournaments rather like Scotland and England compete separately in football, rugby and cricket? Or would the Puerto Rican baseball team have to be wound up into the United States baseball team? Might the 2013 WBC be the last time the Puerto Rican team appears at the WBC?
Unlike the previous referenda this was a two part poll which first asked voters if they wanted to maintain the status quo (the current territorial status under the constitution of the commonwealth of puerto rico) and then asked which non-territorial status they would prefer (statehood, free associated statehood or independence) regardless of the result of the first question. Leading up to the actual vote no option was expected to get a majority (though a couple of polls had statehood just gaining 50% of the vote).
But now it seems that as a result of an attempted protest in which voters supportive of the current status were encouraged to leave ballots blank on the second question; the results of the referendum were:
For the first question of maintaining the status quo: 934,238 (53.99% of the valid votes) voted "No"; 796,007 (46.01% of the valid votes) voted "Yes" and 64,123 (3.5% of the total votes) ballots were left blank
For the second question: 802,179 (61.15% of the valid votes) voted for "statehood"; 436,997 (33.31% of the valid votes) voted "sovereign free associated state"; 72,551 (5.53% of the valid votes) voted for "independence" and a whopping 468,478 (25.64% of the total votes) ballots were left blank
Thus statehood has gained a 60+% majority in this referendum and both presidential candidates and parties have said they would support statehood for Puerto Rico if a clear majority favoured it. I'm not sure if the blank ballot protest would be taken into account (additionally the pro-statehood governor lost the gubernatorial election on the same day); but if the current pro-statehood governor were to use the remainder of his term to get the ball rolling and statehood legislation was introduced in Congress...and it gained the support of most members and the President..then Puerto Rico should become a state (maybe in a year at least but perhaps in three years)
If so what will happen to the Puerto Rican baseball team? Would they still be able to compete in international tournaments rather like Scotland and England compete separately in football, rugby and cricket? Or would the Puerto Rican baseball team have to be wound up into the United States baseball team? Might the 2013 WBC be the last time the Puerto Rican team appears at the WBC?
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