! ! March 5, 2014 ! The Honorable Roger F.

Wicker

Miguel Romero P.O. Box 191061 San Juan, PR 00919-1061

United States Senate 555 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510

! Re: Remarks on the Puerto Rico Status Resolution Act (S. 2020) ! Dear Senator Wicker: ! Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States of America, since 1898. For 97 years,

Puerto Ricans have been proud American citizens. We have proudly served in all of our Nations armed conflicts since World War I and have contributed to the development of our national economy and society. During all this time, the American citizens of Puerto Rico have been disenfranchised, not because of crime or treason, but because of our place of birth and residence. In a two-question plebiscite held November 6, 2012, 970,910 voters, or 53.97% of the total, rejected the current territorial status. Moreover, 834,191 voters, or 61.16 % of those who chose one among the three recognized permanent, no-territorial options in the second question, chose Statehood as their preferred status for Puerto Rico. In fact, the Statehood option garnered more votes than those garnered by the current territorial status in the first question on the ballot. Attached hereto you will find the official results certification issued by the Puerto Rico State Election Commission. Arguments regarding those ballots in which the voter chose to answer only one of the two questions have been made by apologists of the current status and by those that promote the constitutionally impossible enhanced Commonwealth. This argument is not new to the electoral processes in American jurisdictions. During the November 1998 elections in Guam, the number of blank ballots was a controversial factor in determining the applicability of a runoff election. As in the case of the Puerto Rico Election Commissions certification of the results of the November, 2012 Puerto Rico status plebiscite, the Guam Election Commission in that election certified the winner without including the blank ballots. The decision was challenged in court, eventually reaching the U. S. Supreme Court. In a unanimous opinion by Justice Souter, the Court in Gutierrez v. Ada, 528 U.S. 250 (2000), established a clear difference between votes and ballots. Votes were defined as ballots containing a vote for any office, therefore excluding the blank ballots. In that context, similar to ours, elections, plebiscites and referendums are decided by total votes cast, not by total ballots cast. Blank ballots lack an electors intent, therefore making it impossible to determine why that ballot was cast the way it was. It is extremely important for Puerto Ricans to finally resolve the status issue. Those who object to the validity of this democratic exercise are allying themselves with those who want to prolong the current territorial status because of congressional inaction. Sincerely, S/ Miguel Romero