Ah, so they signed onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact!
There’s a CGP Grey video on how it generally works for those with short attention space and/or a need for dry government humor:
Waaaiit, Puerto Ricans don’t get a vote?
I’m a dirty foreigner and I’m not too clear on the status of Puerto Rico, but somehow I’d assumed that they’d get to vote in federal elections since they’re a part of the country
They’re a part of the country, in that they are citizens and pay taxes. They don’t have representation in Congress (they send delegates, but those people can’t vote on anything) and they aren’t represented in the electoral college.
Fun fact, citizens of Washington DC are similarly unrepresented in Congress, but they do get to vote for President.
I’ve never really understood why DC folks don’t get a vote, but at least I knew about that one (it gets mentioned in movies and series from time to time)
Nope. They get a non-voting representative in congress who can speak on issues but has no ability to directly impact legislation.
That honestly seems a bit fucked up. What on earth do they get out of the arrangement if they’re not even able to have the slightest bit of influence in the system?
Just a note on the tax part:
Consequently, while all Puerto Rico residents pay federal taxes, many residents are not required to pay federal income taxes. Aside from income tax, U.S. federal taxes include customs taxes,[1] federal commodity taxes, and federal payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare, and Unemployment taxes).
Basically they are what the 13 colonies were. Taxed to shit without support and rep lmao
I always forget about Guam.
I didn’t realize that statehood is a requirement for actual representation in Congress / the House and being able to participate in federal elections. I’ve just blithely assumed that they’d get some sort of representation regardless, and that everybody would have voting rights.
You got some solid answers here, but I’ll add this: Puerto Ricans don’t necessarily wish statehood. The issue is controversial down there.
What are the downsides? I have basically zero knowledge about this and wish to learn.
On Wednesday, Maine’s legislature passed a bill joining a compact to commit all of their electoral votes, regardless of who won in their individual state, to whichever candidate won the national popular vote.
This brings the total electoral votes joining the compact to 209. Michigan will join soon, bringing it to 225.
270 electoral votes needed for the change to take effect. We’re getting there.
I didn’t think “getting there” is going to happen in our lifetime. We’re just going to hit a ceiling where “obviously blue” states join, and the rest don’t, which will hit before 270.
I don’t live in a swing state and I feel disenfranchised. My vote for president, for all intents and purposes, does not count in the current electoral college system.
I can’t wait for the compact to go into effect. Turnout in so many states would increase a lot.
However, my optimism is tampered by this supreme court.
Literally what that person just said. They said: if they vote against the US district or state majority then their vote didn’t really do anything.
If you live in an city you vote is disenfranchised thrice over, you just don’t realize.
You are correct, in a swing state your vote would carry more weight. But then you’d be subject to the propaganda and media campaigns lobbied against those populations for like 18months before the vote. It’s exhausting.
If you are in a populous state your vote is diminished by only having 2 Senators. 2 Senators per state, regardless population, GDP, et al, gives undue power to smaller states at the cost of the bigger ones. Taking from one group of people to give to another is socialism right? I missed that lesson of fox nows, idk.
But the house. There’s no reason to cap the house at 435. Zero. Zilch.
The UK, for comparison has 1442 politicians in its two houses under the King. America, 40x the size, with 5x the population, has 535?
Wtf?!?
We need to uncap the house. Like yesterday. Constitutionally it’s supposed to be 1 rep for 30k citizens. That’d mean 11000 members of congress.
I say good. I’m all for power being diluted. Always in all ways. I want power so diluted entropy would take notice.
Not a great solution. We need ranked voting. Not perfect, but significantly better than the 2 party shitshow we’re currently saddled with.
Weirdly Maine is/maybe was the only state that did ranked choice voting. But it also kinda sounds like this new system supercedes it.
https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/rankedchoicefaq.html
