The right to vote has been a hard-won right for some groups. Here at PlateaPR, we look at the history behind building a more inclusive vote and how the electoral process on the Island has evolved.
For more than five centuries of imperial rule in Puerto Rico, government was dictated first by the Spanish colony and then by the United States. It was not until 1948 that Puerto Ricans were able to choose the Island's first elected leader, following amendments to the Ley Jones.
Under that statute, men and women 21 or older were eligible to vote that year.
However, the fact that women participated in Puerto Rico's first election was the result of women "joining the working class to demonstrate and lobby for the right to participate in choosing the government," historian Reinaldo Ávila recounted.
On another front, incarcerated people were not permitted to vote until 1980, when the Ley 3 was created to grant them an absentee vote. In 1984, they were able to exercise that right for the first time.
Similarly, people who, due to a health condition or physical disability, had difficulty reaching polling places could not vote until 2004, when the Ley Electoral established at-home voting to guarantee this segment of the population could participate.
Today, as established by the Constitución del Estado Libre Asociado and the Código Electoral, any person who has turned 18 on or before 50 days prior to an election, is a U.S. and Puerto Rican citizen, resides in Puerto Rico, and has not been declared mentally incapacitated has the right to vote.
"A more democratic voting mechanism"
Beyond the fact that more people now have the right to vote, the electronic voting system, in place since 2016, makes the process fairer than before "because the vote count is carried out by a machine," the historian argued.
By contrast, the method of voting that involved selecting candidates by filling out ballots by hand, used through the 2012 elections, meant the electoral process "was not as democratic as it is now," Ávila argued.
"That made it an ordinary process, one that lent itself to acts of corruption because it lent itself to some people filling out ballots for others," Ávila added.
Ávila, who also serves as director of the Casa Cultural Mabodamaca, noted that today, under amendments made to the Código Electoral, there is a more balanced participation among parties compared to earlier years.
The need for greater autonomy in choosing
Looking ahead to future elections, Ávila hopes legislation will be passed so that citizens can select members of the Judicial Branch rather than having the government do so.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
