97% of Puerto Ricans vote to become 51st state (Ninety-Seven Percent!)

[Adam Griffin]

"Boycott" = "we know we would lose the vote anyway so let's pretend to be principled or whatever by not voting so we can claim the vote was illegitimate"

[Adam Griffin]

It was not a serious vote, and was boycotted by the other side.  Trying to present this as anything meaningful is disingenuous..

What if the other side decides to boycott any future vote on the matter? Does that mean PR can never become a state just on that alone?

Yes.  If the other side boycotted I would say the same absolutely.  It's not a serious referendum.

This is akin to the Bronx GOP or Utah Democrats telling their voters to "boycott" the presidential election: it doesn't de-legitimize the result because they were going to have no effect on the overall outcome in the first place. It's nothing more than a pathetic attempt at spin to de-legitimize the same verdict that would've been delivered whether they voted or not.

[Adam Griffin]

It didn't even pass the last time they voted.... the YES vote won 54% to change status, but statehood only got 61% of that.  Not like the Bronx GOP whatsoever.  Theres a large anti-statehood group.

You do realize that a vote without so many open-ended possibilities would inevitably result in Puerto Ricans embracing statehood, right? Any vote that is "statehood vs. status quo" or "yes vs. no" is an easily predictable result. Trying to argue that "only a plurality chose the winning option" - especially when there were multiple options that included ballot siloing - is pretty dumb. That is, after all, how the vast majority of electoral processes in the US work (excluding the silos).


Anyway, the next time Democrats have the trifecta, we need to punish Republicans and simultaneously mock their supposed love for small states and the like by forcing through PR as a state...and Guam, and American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas, and USVI. Hell, throw Palmyra Atoll in there for good measure, too.