Legal Conclusion: Statehood Won

01/19/2013 | Filed under: Status | Posted by: Francisco

Legal Conclusion: Statehood Won

The questions of whether to count blank (or spoiled) ballots cast for the calculation of a majority vote is an issue that has been decided by many different U.S. courts. However, to the disappointment of many, it is an issue which legal conclusion depends strictly on the interpretation of the applicable voting statute involved (and not on constitutional issues).

For example, in Gutierrez v. Camacho, 528 U.S. 250 (2000), the U.S. Supreme Court held that according to the voting statute under controversy, blank ballots cast in the election could “not” be counted for purposes of computing whether there was a majority vote.

In another case, Hawaii State AFL-CIO v. Yoshina, 935 P.2d 89 (Haw. 1997), the Supreme Court of Hawaii decided that according to the applicable statute blank ballots cast in the election counted for the computation of whether there was a majority vote.

However, in Republican Party of Hawaii v. Waihee, 709 P.2d 980 (Haw. 1985), the same Supreme Court of Hawaii, came to the opposite conclusion when it interpreted a different voting statute. In this case, the Court held that blank ballots cast could “not” be counted for the calculation of whether there was a majority vote or not.

In our case, the applicable Puerto Rico statute clearly states that for purposes of deciding a majority vote only votes cast can be used to compute a majority of the vote and that blank ballots cast in the PR plebiscite cannot count in the computation of a majority vote.

Similarly, the White House and President Obama have stated that what they need from Puerto Rico is a clear “majority vote” on a status option – not a clear majority of “ballots cast”.

By the same token, Congress as well as Congressman Hastings have always requested from Puerto Rico a “majority vote” on status a and note a “majority of ballots cast.”

Therefore, in conclusion, my understanding is that the law is clear that Statehood won the majority of the votes in the plebiscite. There should be no doubt about this. Blank ballots cast in the plebiscite simply do not count. The Gutierrez case serves as good precedent supporting that there is no constitutional argument against not counting these blank ballots for the computation of the majority vote for statehood.

Moreover, we all know that most of the people who cast blank ballots in the plebiscite if really forced to vote for one of the three status options would have voted for Statehood. These people were just trying to «sabotage» the plebiscite voting process because they do not want any of the threee legal status options for PR.

Have a good day.

Saludos,
Frank

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Hernan Padilla

A mis amigos del Equipo de Defensores de la estadidad ( Advocates).
FYI referencia futura. Información básica sobre puertorriqueños que dieron la
vida en Vietnam.

Los puertorriqueños Ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos van las guerras en defensa
de la democracia y los valores de la nación Americana
y dan su vida, pero no pueden votar por el Presidente (Comander in Chief) ni por
los Congresistas que toman la decisión.

Estos datos fortalecen nuestra posición de que el ELA territorial-colonial
discrimina contra los Ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos residentes
en Puerto Rico y es la causa principal del terrible déficit democrático que
afecta los derechos de los Ciudadanos Americanos en la Isla.

* Cortesía de Pedro Campos.

Hernan

* Statistics Off the Vietnam Memorial Wall

«Carved on these walls is the story of America, of a continuing quest to
preserve both Democracy and decency, and to protect a national treasure that we
call the American dream.» ~ President George Bush

There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those
added in 2010.

345 WERE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS BORN IN PUERTO RICO

Bear in mind that Puerto Ricans who reside in the Island can not elect 2
Senators and 5 Congressmen or women and can not vote to elect our Commander in
Chief, POTUS
(A democratic deficit is worst than a fiscal deficit. The first one is related
to human rights, the second only to monetary issues). Hernan padilla