7PM: The polls closed in Puerto Rico nearly four hours ago and the latest results show that Mitt Romney won by a big margin.
He needed at least 50% of the vote to get the 20 delegates, and that he did.
Mitt was the favorite, and I predicted two days ago that he would win. In his favor:
- His long-standing relationship with the Puerto Rican Republicans
- His statement in favor of statehood, if the Puerto Ricans decided for statehood.
Bear in mind that, in order to vote in the Republican primary, Puerto Ricans had to declare themselves Republicans, and
Only voters affiliated with the governing New Progressive Party were permitted to cast ballots in the island’s Republican primary this year – a requirement that obligated pro-Republican Puerto Ricans to declare their support for statehood.
Santorum campaigned briefly in the island and was considered to be the only other contender; his odds went way down once he got into the subject of language.
Newt Ginrich got less that 4% of the vote, and Ron Paul came in under Fred Karger and Buddy Roemer.
Welcome back!
It was not my fault that Mitt won. There were at least 2 votes for Ron Paul cast in Fajardo. Well, one for sure and she *says* she voted for Paul.
I did have to sign a paper saying that I am a Republican in order to vote but I am pretty sure I did not sign anything saying I am PNP (A pox on all 3 parties. Actually a pox on the demmies and repos as well, while I am at it.)
I flew to Chicago today where I will be for the next 2 weeks but can send you a copy of the paper I signed when I get back.
John Henry
It occurs to me that it might be useful to describe how re do elections in Puerto Rico. We do it right. Forty years on the island and I don’t remember any serious allegations of ballot rigging. I probably would not even bother to vote if I lived in the upper 50.
1) We go to our polling place which is a school. They have a couple of classrooms for each of PNP and PDP voters (the 2 local parties) and one for the repos. This is assigned based on where we live.
2) We show ID cards. Not just any ID cards but PR Voter ID cards. By law they cannot be used for anything else and by law no other ID can be used for voting.
3) 2 pollwatchers each check our names against a list of registered voters. They sign and we sign the list.
4) Our hands are scanned with a special blacklight.
5) We dip a finger into an inkpot. This varies from election to election but this time it was the left pinkie.
6) It is scanned to make sure the invisible ink shows up under the blacklight.
7) We then get handed a paper ballot and pencil and are sent to a voting booth.
8) after marking the ballot, we place it in a sealed box.
9) After polls close, the ballots are counted and the results transmitted to the Electoral Commission HQ in San Juan where they are announced.
10) The paper ballots, with certifications and whatnot by the poll watchers are sent to san Juan for verification.
Primaries are simple with relatively few voters and few candidates. The same process is used for quadrennial elections where each voter might have to vote for 20-30 positions (governor, Senator, Rep, Mayor, Assemblyman etc)
We have about 70-80% of all eligible voters registered and typically have 75-80% of those turn out. Probably around 3 million voters turning out.
And we still get the paper ballots counted and results out by 7PM or so election day.
It takes a week or two to certify all the results and make them official. Sometimes there is a change from the results we see on election day. It is pretty rare that the preliminary results don’t hold up.
This is how elections should be held. We don’t get any better politicians than you in the upper 50 do but at least our crooks, liars and general scumbags are honestly elected.
John Henry