Letter to Senator Marco Rubio - PR Voting Rights

October 21st, 2015

Senator Marco Rubio

U.S. Senate

Washington, DC

Dear Senator Rubio:

It is my sincere hope that this written communication finds you well. The purpose

of this letter is to inform you of an initiative several classmates and I at Florida

A&M College of Law have been working on for the past three months, geared

towards the goal of filing a constitutional amendment that would extend the

Presidential vote to the United States territory of Puerto Rico, similar to the filing

and granting of this fundamental right to the District of Columbia in 1960.

As you know, the three and half million American citizens of Puerto Rico are

denied the right to vote for President of the United States and are disenfranchised

from our democratic system due to racist U.S. Supreme Court rulings established

through the infamous “Insular Cases”; a series of cases heard in 1901, which have

yet to be overturned and are still law of the land today. See exhibit A. These cases

classified Puerto Ricans as “alien races that would never accustom to the

American way of life.” This discriminatory jurisprudence not only deprives

Puerto Rico from the most basic and fundamental rights of our Nation, but it also

denies it to all other U.S. territories; such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam,

Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.

Having grown up on a military base in North Carolina during my father’s service

within the U.S. Special Forces, I was able to acquire a deep appreciation for the

democratic rights and values of our nation; principles reminded to me every day

when I stood up and recited the pledge of allegiance during my elementary school

years. As a result of this upbringing, I have always cherished my U.S. citizenship,

as the vast majority of Puerto Ricans do; yet, I have become very disappointed

with the Nation I grew up admiring.

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I struggle to understand how the United States is able to preach of freedom and

democracy internationally, as it still does today; while stripping the U.S. territory

of Puerto Rico from the same voter and representation rights it professes abroad

in foreign countries during military conflicts.

The fact that Puerto Rican soldiers, who risk and sacrifice their lives in every U.S.

war abroad cannot vote for their Commander in Chief exasperates my conscious

and has lead me to conclude that unless we move swiftly now to demand the

Presidential vote, the federal government will continue to utilize the island’s

division regarding the issue of statehood as a justification to never take action to

correct this clear violation of civil rights. As opposed to the issue of whether or

not Puerto Rico should become a state; the idea of granting Puerto Rico the right

to vote for President of the United States as a territory has received overwhelming

support from both majority political parties on the island, both the New

Progressive Party (NPP) and the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) respectively;

as well as from over 83% of the American citizens of Puerto Rico according to

the most recent poll. The island’s current governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, is

also on record supporting the Presidential vote as well. See exhibit B

One of Puerto Rico’s founding fathers, Governor Luis Munoz Marin of the

Popular Democratic Party (who opposed statehood) testified in U.S. Congress

within the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Hearing that analyzed the District of

Columbia’s right to vote proposed through House Joint Resolution 529 in 1960.

See exhibit C. As you can read within his testimony, Governor Munoz Marin not

only voiced his support for the Presidential vote for Puerto Rico, but he also

unsuccessfully attempted to include Puerto Rico in the bill that granted the

Presidential vote to the residents of our Nation’s capital.

Former Governor Pedro Rossello of the New Progressive Party (who supports

statehood) actually signed a bill into law, which was legislated by his party in the

year 2000, granting the Presidential vote to Puerto Rico under the current

territorial status, which also ordered the printing of ballots for voters to cast their

vote in the Presidential elections that year. Act No. 403 of 2000 See exhibit D.

This law was signed into law immediately after the U.S. District Court in Puerto

Rico ruled that the American citizens of Puerto Rico were in fact entitled to vote

for President of the United States and denying them that right was

unconstitutional. See exhibit E. Unfortunately, and quite frankly, disgustingly, the

U.S. Court of Appeals immediately reversed the lower court’s decision and

justified its reversal by citing the early 1900s racist jurisprudence established

through the earlier mentioned “Insular Cases”. See exhibit F.

This issue touches the fiber of what our Nation stands for and it is time we defend

America’s reputation as the beacon of freedom and democracy worldwide. We

can no longer preach of freedom and democracy worldwide while we prohibit 3.5

million American citizens of our own from the right to participate in the

democratic process of our nation.

America is better than that; which is why we respectfully request that you

champion this issue by filing a constitutional amendment in U.S. Congress to

grant equal voting rights to the 3.5 million American citizens of Puerto Rico;

therefore initiating the process that will close one of the darkest chapters of our

nation’s history and ultimately contribute to “a more perfect union….”

The time is now….

Sincerely,

Phillip Arroyo

Former White House Intern

Law Student

Florida A&M College of Law