It’s the sixth time in history in which residents of Puerto Rico will be asked about the island’s relationship with the United States. 

This time, it’s a simple yes or no question: “Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?”

What You Need To Know

  • The November 3rd plebiscite is the sixth of its kind in Puerto Rico

  • Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and even though its residents are U.S. citizens, they are not allowed to vote for president

  • On the November 3rd ballot, Puerto Ricans will elect a new governor and legislature

  • Some see the statehood referendum as a ploy by the governing party to remain in power

After so many fruitless attempts in the past, could this referendum be the final one?

“It’s unlikely,” Carlos Vargas Ramos, director of Public Policy at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, said. “But there are too many uncertainties, there are too many unknowns.”  

Even though the question is similar to the one posed to residents of Alaska and Hawaii in the 1950’s, this referendum is non-binding. 

Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres, who is likely to win a congressional seat in November, thinks that that detail shouldn’t matter and that if a majority of Puerto Ricans say yes, “then Congress has an obligation to act upon what the people voted for. That’s democracy, that’s decolonization, that’s self-determination.”

Opposed to that idea is his soon-to-be colleague, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, born in Puerto Rico and representing in the House neighborhoods in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. 

“I will not legitimize a process that is not the right process for the decolonization of Puerto Rico, so I will not be part of this farce,” Velázquez said.

Like many other Puerto Ricans, Velázquez thinks this referendum is a political ploy by the party in power, the PNP, to lure its pro-statehood supporters to the polls. 

On the November 3rd ballot, residents of the island will also be electing members of its legislature and a new governor. 

As a counter move, Congresswomen Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently introduced a bill that would come up with a solution to the status of Puerto Rico through a convention, which, according to Vargas Ramos, “is an affirmative step by members of Congress to really bring the issues of the status of Puerto Rico to the fore.” 

Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden has said he believes statehood would be the most effective way to ensure Puerto Ricans are treated equally. That’s also the opinion of New York Senator Chuck Schumer. 

Were Puerto Rico to become a state, residents of the island would get two seats in the U.S. Senate and about five in the House. 

Republicans have never been keen on the idea because they believe these would be solidly-Democratic votes.

Previous plebiscites failed to produce meaningful results, keeping the current commonwealth status intact: a US territory, a de facto colony. 

Its residents, citizens of the United States, but without, among other things, the right to vote for president.