February 15, 2002
Copyright © 2002 PUERTO RICO HERALD. All Rights Reserved. |
| Puerto Rico’s Governor, Sila Calderon, has focused her gaze on the 3.4 million Puerto Ricans living in the continental United States, many of voting age and presently unregistered to vote. She has announced her intention to use the eleven Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Offices scattered throughout the United States to begin a voter registration drive within that population. By law, these offices must remain non-partisan.
Hers is not an effort to feather her own political nest, she says, but rather "to empower (them) politically so that they can be a voice in the issues that affect them." The Governor is quite candid that her objective is to create political leverage on the mainland for policies of her administration by helping to elect mainland officials who will "be sensitive to our issues in Puerto Rico." Critics state that the voter registration campaign is an improper use of island resources and a blatant interference in the political affairs of other U.S. electoral districts. They also speculate that it has the potential to backfire as competing candidates publicly question the policy. |
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Final Poll Results
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Should the Puerto Rico Government devote island resources to register mainland voters?
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| 47% |
Yes |
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| 53% |
No |
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| 0% |
Undecided |
| .. |
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