Puerto Rico postpones Democratic presidential primary as COVID-19 upends politics
Puerto Rico is joining the growing number of U.S. states postponing their Democratic presidential primary, as the novel coronavirus has upended events around the world.
Over the weekend, Gov. Wanda Vázquez signed a bill pushing the island’s Democratic primary back from March 29 to April 26.
Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of 3.2 million, cannot vote in the presidential elections but does hold sway in the primary process. The island has 51 pledged delegates and seven automatic delegates, giving its voters more power than about half of U.S states.
Last year, the island moved up its primary from June to March, in hopes of playing a bigger role in shaping the field of contenders. Instead, a volatile political landscape and a runaway virus are undermining those ambitions.
The 2020 race has already been whittled down to two men, former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Biden has a clear delegate lead.
Even so, the chairman of Puerto Rico’s Democratic Party, Charles Rodríguez, said the island’s voters are not limited to those two choices.
The ballots were printed on Feb. 8 and at that time there were eight candidates.
“Regardless of whether any of the eight Democratic presidential candidates has withdrawn, if that candidate receives 15 percent or more of the votes on the district delegate selection ballot, the vote is valid and may elect delegates at the district level,” Rodríguez said in a statement.
The new law also gives the local party the leeway to push the election back further, if needed.
Puerto Rico joins Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland and Ohio in delaying their presidential primaries amid COVID-19 related chaos.
Puerto Rico has 31 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and has registered two deaths. The island was the first U.S. jurisdiction to take serious measures to fight the spread of the virus, shutting down all non-essential businesses and imposing a curfew.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 2:17 PM.
