Puerto Rico to become 51st state of the USA

[Ecthy]

Agreed, but your interpretation of the results was... uninformed, at least

[Ecthy]

You don't think he'd do what he campaigned on?

Good question. Was it his only campaign issue? He can hardly claim the people elected him to keep the status quo, facing those results.

[Ecthy]

"The campaign of the main opposing party, the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), focused mostly on the problems of crime, unemployment, and high utility costs, attributing them to the failure of the incumbent Governor, Luis Fortuño, from the New Progressive Party (PNP).[10] The PNP, on the other hand, focused mostly on the lack of experience of the PPD candidate, Alejandro GarcÃa Padilla.[11]" (from wiki)

[The Mad Monk]

Are you insane? 51=17*3. 17=9+8. Thus, 9-8-9-8-9-8 will be fine!

Yes, exactly.

My only gripe about this is that I just bought a brand new 50 star flag, and if I fly it after PR finally gets statehood, people might get the wrong idea.

On the other hand, I am 200 feet off the roadway, who's gonna know?

[The Mad Monk]

Is Quebecois independence even on the agenda?

Is it ever not on the agenda? Really?

[The Mad Monk]

You don't think he'd do what he campaigned on?

You do follow politics, right?

[giblets]

Look at the results. The number of people who voted for statehood is in fact smaller than the number of people who voted to change the status quo. But the reason the overall vote share is higher (66 as opposed to 54) is because many people voted blank on the second question. It's still a 44% plurality for statehood if you include the blank votes in the count, which isn't usually done in either elections or referenda.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_...,_2012#Results

So statehood didn't actually get a majority of the votes? The referendum was simply designed to make it look that way?

[MRT144]

I'm all in favor of Puerto Rico gaining statehood.

Por Que?

[regexcellent]

I said, I'm all in favor of Puerto Rico gaining statehood. The current status of a territory with the population the size of Connecticut is fairly ridiculous.

I don't care that they speak Spanish. If anything, that enhances the sense that this is a federation of 50 (ahem, 51) states, with their own culture. There's no reason Spanish can't be the official language there.

[MRT144]

But Reg, they'll be voting straight democratic party a lot of the time.

[Ecthy]

So statehood didn't actually get a majority of the votes? The referendum was simply designed to make it look that way?

It did. In fact I'll say it did get a clear majority. So far there's no proof the blank votes are used as an argument (or part of one) against statehood from either side. The winning gubernatorial candidate could contest the vote, or accept it as a clear majority. It's too early to tell, but so far most non-insane media agree it's a clear majority, and supporters look to be celebrating. We'll see.

[Hauldren Collider]

But Reg, they'll be voting straight democratic party a lot of the time.

Not necessarily. Their governor is Republican (though he just narrowly lost re-election).

[The Mad Monk]

But Reg, they'll be voting straight democratic party a lot of the time.

So?

[regexcellent]

But Reg, they'll be voting straight democratic party a lot of the time.

I'm not going to say a territory of 2 million people can't join the union because of partisan politics. If they vote democrat, that's fine.

[MRT144]

Not necessarily. Their governor is Republican (though he just narrowly lost re-election).

I might care about what you have to say if you weren't so busy being wrong about demographic voting and turnout.