With only 10 months until the general elections, only 25.3 percent of young people who could potentially cast their first vote have registered for the 2024 elections. That is according to Roberto Aponte, electoral commissioner for the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP).
"Right now, there are a little over 38,000 first-time eligible young voters registered out of a potential — according to the federal Census — of 150,000 young people," he said in an interview with El Vocero.
By comparison, at the close of registration for the 2020 electoral cycle, the Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (CEE) had recorded 121,358 registrations in total.
Both the PIP commissioner and the electoral commissioner for the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (MVC), Lillian Aponte, attributed the decline in part to the closure of the Juntas de Inscripción Permanentes (JIP).
"It is a response to the way the CEE operated against the law by closing the vast majority of the JIP — 12 remain versus the 83 that existed in 2020 — while the electronic system that the electoral law itself mandated be ready by June 2022 has not been made available to voters," the MVC commissioner told the newspaper.
Under the new electoral code approved in June 2020, the number of available boards was to be reduced to 12 offices. According to Aponte, 17 of them continue to operate.
Strategies to encourage new voters
As a strategy to encourage new voter registration, the PIP commissioner emphasized directing intensive efforts toward registration at universities and public and private schools.
"There is enormous motivation, especially among young people, to break with the two-party system that has caused so much harm to the country," he said.
For its part, the electoral commissioner for the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), Karla Angleró, told El Vocero that the party is focused on reactivating voters who have already cast ballots under the PPD banner.
She emphasized that they will launch a campaign to attract voters who participated in primaries but not in the general elections. '
Historic decline in electoral participation
CEE data show that, as of Oct. 31, 2023, there were 1.92 million eligible voters in Puerto Rico. For the 2020 elections, the Island had 2.36 million eligible voters, a reduction of 18.7 percent.
That reduction reinforces how low participation has been a trend since the previous four-year term.
The 2020 elections had the lowest voter turnout in Puerto Rico's history, at 55.02 percent. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi also won the race with the lowest victory margin in history: 33.2 percent.
by Andrea Perez
Betting on the Registro Electrónico de Electores (eRE)
Although the electoral commissioner for the Partido Nuevo Progresista, Vanessa Santo Domingo, is counting on the Registro Electrónico de Electores (eRE) as a tool for voter registration, the platform has faced problems since its launch in October 2023.
Among the problems the eRE has encountered — it was meant to replace JIP functions such as registrations, reactivations and transfers — the most notable are errors when trying to upload a photo ID and difficulties obtaining the precinct and polling place where a voter must vote.
If the CEE does not manage to address the problems in time, the platform could become an additional obstacle to adding registrations.
For her part, the alternate president of the CEE, Jessika Padilla Rivera, said the photo error had been resolved, but that the address issue persisted and that the agency is currently working on the problem.
To register as a voter
For voters interested in participating in the primaries, the registration deadline is April 13, while the deadline for the general elections is Sunday, Oct. 6.
If you register after this date, you will need to appear in person to complete the process, and your vote may be counted by hand rather than digitally. You can complete your electronic registration here.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
