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December 9, 2004

Puerto Rican gov’s race lands in Boston court

Yawu Miller

When members of Puerto Rico’s Independence Party sought to prevent conservative pro-statehood candidate Pedro Rossello from winning the governor's seat, they selected their party on the ballot, but voted for the Popular Democratic Party candidate, Anibal Acevedo Vila.

The practice of mixed voting — voting for one party while at the same time selecting candidates from another — has been practiced in Puerto Rico since 1906. Yet this time, Rossello, who lost by just 3,880 votes, challenged the practice in court.

Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court and U.S. District Judge Daniel Dominguez both ordered an immediate recount, ruling in separate but overlapping cases. The courts, however, made contradictory rulings on how to deal with thousands of disputed votes favoring Acevedo Vila.

The Supreme Court ordered the votes counted as valid. Dominguez, widely seen as a Rossello ally, ordered elections officials to tally the ballots but not add them to the final recount until he ruled on their validity.

Attorneys and political activists from Puerto Rico are now turning their attention to Boston’s First Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear arguments on the case Monday.

The case has sparked fierce debate in Puerto Rico and in Boston's Puerto Rican community, where advocates of independence, statehood and continuing commonwealth status have long been at odds.

“This is important for all of us, inside and outside of Puerto Rico,” said City Councilor Felix Arroyo. “Puerto Ricans vote by ideology. But they are also interested in who will be in charge of their government.”

Rossello’s challenge of the long-standing practice of mixed votes has sparked anger among members of the Independence Party, who favor independence from the United States and the Popular Democratic Party, who favor a maintenance of the island’s commonwealth status.

With its current commonwealth status, Puerto Ricans are considered US citizens, but cannot vote for president and do not have a voting representative in Congress or the Senate. The governor is the highest ranking elected official on the island.

Rossello, previously governor from 1993 through the end of 2000, insists the mixed votes make it impossible to determine voters’ intent. If elected, he promises a new campaign to make Puerto Rico the 51st U.S. state.

Hector Luis Acevedo, a former mayor of San Juan who ran against Rossello in the 1996 race for governor, noted that Rossello has himself been elected in the past with mixed votes.

“When Mr. Rossello realized he was going to lose, the only thing that occurred to him was to challenge mixed votes,” Acevedo told the Banner in a phone interview. “This is a Mr. Rossello tradition. He respects institutions only when they serve him.”

Acevedo, who teaches electoral law and political science in Puerto Rico’s Catholic University and the American University of Puerto Rico, noted that mixed voting has always been legal in Puerto Rico.

“There is not a single law in Puerto Rico saying that mixed votes should not be counted,” he said.

Statehood advocates in Massachusetts are backing Rossello’s case, according to Tony Molina, a talk show radio host and long-time organizer of Boston’s annual Puerto Rican festival.

“One of the things that we in Puerto Rico have to recognize is that the Federal Government does have authority,” Molina told the Banner.

But Acevedo argued that by challenging the long-standing practice of mixed voting, Rossello is alienating the population he wishes to represent.

“This is a very explosive situation,” he said. “You don’t steal an election at noon on a weekday like they are doing. To void the will of the people in an election is the worst thing you can do.”

(Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.)

 

 

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