Puerto Rico’s largest newspaper

  • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    11 hours ago

    Okay, I’m worried about jumping into this one because it seems to have gotten heated. But I’m really curious about something.

    I’m a US citizen, born in South Carolina. If I move to England, i can still vote via absentee ballot.

    If a Puerto Rican, an American citizen, moves to South Carolina, they can vote just like any other citizen.

    If I, born in the US mainland, moved to PR, would I be eligible to vote for the president via absentee ballot?

    Because if not, that’s genuinely fucked. If I can move to a whole ass other country and maintain that right, but lose it if I move to a part of my own country, that makes no sense. Honestly, it’s downright fucking hostile.

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      11 hours ago

      If I, born in the US mainland, moved to PR, would I be eligible to vote for the president via absentee ballot?

      Not if you declare Puerto Rico as your residence. If you have homes in three states, and split your time equally between them, you can still only be resident of one state. If you move to Puerto Rico permanently, you can still technically declare your residence as North Carolina as long as you maintain an address, drivers license and file taxes there. If so, you can vote absentee in North Carolina from Puerto Rico.

      EDIT: There is no difference between “Americans” and Puerto Ricans because they are all Americans. There is a difference between Puerto Rico and a US state. The people aren’t different, the territory is. I hope that clears it up a little for you.

      • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        11 hours ago

        Re: your edit. Absolutely, I hope I didn’t suggest otherwise in my question.

        Re: the rest. That makes sense, I suppose. But it still seems genuinely fucked. Almost as if our laws are designed to give the middle finger to the island and it’s residents.

        • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          10 hours ago

          I totally understood you, I am just workshopping a one sentence answer because it comes up a lot. People always say “Puerto Ricans can’t vote” and that is not true. Plus it makes feel like “others” rather than Americans. The correct statement is that “Puerto Ricans can vote, Puerto Rico cannot.”