I called some of my family members and friends in PR to hear about the primaries...(Updated!)

[Colobo]

My aunts and my grandma like Obama, but decided not to vote. Reason? They don't really feel like voting today, and they don't know where they have to go to vote (not all precints are open).

3 of my friends said they don't give a damn about the primary. They all said the process "doesn't have anything to do with PR" and that it "doesn't affect them in any way".

1 of my friends said she liked Hillary because "she has spent a lot of time in PR" but decided not to vote because "the black guy already won, and I actually got more important things to do".

So- the turnout will be EXTREMELY low for an island in which 85% of people vote.

For those of you that understand Spanish and have DirecTV, live primary coverage from Puerto Rico will start at 1pm on WAPA America. You can see it here, www.wapa.tv

My aunt just called me back- The news are saying that th turnout is so low that in many precints NODBODY has showed uo to vote. In many places, THERE ARE NO PEOPLE FROM ANY OF THE TWO CAMPAIGNS supervising anything.

[Colobo]

1. Kick!

[helderheid]

2. Thanks for the report!

[scarletwoman]

3. What time (converted to U.S.A. Eastern time) do the polls close? (nt)

[Patsy Stone]

9. Three o'clock

:hi:

[scarletwoman]

23. Thank you!

:hi:

[roguevalley]

34. CNN has an exit poll that says it will be very, very low and extrapolated

that is very bad for Clinton. She also endorsed statehood I gather and the people of PR don't want statehood but the other status, I can't remember. sort of more than protectorate and less than statehood. PR is always a tough nut because of the statehood issue. GO, PR!

[Patsy Stone]

35. I also wonder

how many people in PR have heard from their relatives in New York. If it's a pretty day, I think I'd rather be outside, at the beach, with a drink instead of voting in an election that won't mean much.

[Drunken Irishman]

38. Clinton was hoping for a net of 100,000 votes, might not happen.

Especially if the race is extremely close, which I think it will be.

[Tatiana]

4. Turnout is going to be VERY low.

I thought more folk in San Juan and Ponce would be showing up to the polls, but my familia says not really so far.

My aunt is a poll worker. All of my family voted for Obama except for a great-aunt, who voted for Clinton.

Plus, apparently, there is some sort of protest where they encouraged people to boycott the election.

So, I don't know. I'm hoping Obama will get at least 40%. That is very doable.

I wish he'd spent a little more time on la isla.

[flor de jasmim]

5. Thanks for the link to wapa.tv!

[Colobo]

6. Kick!

[grantcart]

7. This is Lee Mercer's chance to shine

[QueenOfCalifornia]

8. I worked in P.R.

for several years. Public Relations.

Which is what I thought you meant.

I wondered why your relatives couldn't vote if they worked in P.R.

:rofl:

[MagickMuffin]

10. Thanks for the post Katzenkavalier, and the link

I guess I really don't understand why PR would get to vote in a Primary, yet not be allowed to vote in the GE. It just doesn't make much sense to me.


:kick: & RRRRRRR

[tigereye]

17. yeah that's what I was thinking... doesn't really seem fair to them, or to make

much sense...

[RichardRay]

39. Because the candidate selection process is a function of the party

NOT the country. The election is managed under the laws of the United States, the candidate selection process under the rules of the Democratic Party. If the party wanted to they could amend the rules to allow Uruguay to hold a primary and it would be perfectly legitimate.

Why they might do such a thing completely escapes me, but given the recent contretemps I wouldn't be completely surprised if they did.

[powergirl]

11. You are awesome for giving these updates

I don't get why the CW is that Latinos supposedly vote for Clinton. My people (on my Mom's side) are from Argentina. Those of us here, who can vote, are going for Obama. My Dad was in South America in March and he said everyone was talking about Obama and how awesome that would be. No chatter about Clinton - even though Argentina has a female president who is the spouse of a former president.

Muchas Gracias Katzenkavalier!

[Kahuna]

12. Tee hee. nt

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[yourguide]

26. enjoy your visit

[Ellipsis]

36. *Poof!*

[woolldog]

13. Why didn't you convince your Aunts and Grandma to get out and vote??

[Colobo]

14. I tried, but my aunt has a stomach flu and my grandma is dealing with

asthma- even if they knew were to vote, they wouldn't have done it.

[woolldog]

19. haha. okay...

Hope your aunt and grandma feel better.

[Colobo]

24. Thanks!

[joeybee12]

15. From what i read, people don't see the point in voting because they

will not get to vote in the GE...they get out and vote in huge numbers for local issues, though, and there are no local issues today with the primary, which might have changed the turnout.

[Colobo]

16. Exactly.If PRs in the island could vote for the president, the story would be

much different today.

[kwenu]

40. What's the difference between PR and other territories that took this primary very seriously?

I don't understand the thinking on this. PR has consistently voted to remain in commonwealth status in every plebiscite on the issue so what's the deal? I think PR could get the vote and pay income taxes like the rest of the states if it really wanted to. Is it the payment of income taxes that PR's are having a problem with?

[K Gardner]

18. But.. but.. CNN reports that Hillary spent "8 hours in the back of a truck" yesterday !

[Colobo]

21. Yeah, and people said "hi" to her

without actually caring about why she was there.

[thewiseguy]

22. CNN will have some exit polls very shortly

[fight4my3sons]

25. k&r

thank you for that information. I also agree with other posters that said they didn't understand why voters in PR were allowed to vote in the primary, but not in the GE.

[crispini]

27. Thanks for the report!

:kick: Interesting.

[JerseygirlCT]

28. Low turnout is never something to celebrate

(except among Republicans, lol), but I'm not surprised.

[Colobo]

30. Not celebrating it- but I expected this.

[JerseygirlCT]

33. I'm sorry - never meant to imply you were!

It's a shame, is all. But I'm not surprised at this point.

And I appreciate your reports!

[yellerpup]

29. We appreciate hearing a first hand account of what's going on in PR!

Thanks, Katzenkavalier. K&R! :kick:

[Pirate Smile]

31. Kos is getting some reports.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/1/121833/8610/90/526726

Puerto Rico updates
by kos
Sun Jun 01, 2008 at 09:25:10 AM PDT
I'm getting reports from the island from Ricky Rosello, son of former Gov. Pedro Rosello and vice-chair of the Clinton campaign in Puerto Rico.

First, his thoughts on how districts are expected to perform:

San Juan (district 1), Bayamon (district 2) and Carolina (district 8) -- should be very strong Hillary Clinton posts.

Guayama (dist 6) and Mayaguez (dist 4) should be more in-line with Obama.

Ponce (district 5) and Arecibo (district 3) will be curious to watch, because Ponce is a typical Obama Hotbed, but most of the mayors in the region support Hillary, while in Arecibo, the opposite is true. It will be interesting to see how much political muscle these mayors have.

Humacao (district 7) should be interesting to watch because there have been serious reports of "list emptying" -- a dynamic that occurs in Puerto Rico, when electoral representatives from one side are not present. This practice consists in taking the whole list of voters who did NOT come in but were registered there, and signing them up as if they voted. In the general election, this happens, but with an 81-85% turnout... the impact is significant but may be minimal. However, on a primary where the maximum expected turnout is 30-34%, one or two of these may be significant enough to swing a district one way or the other.

That 30-34 percent mark was interesting, since I know the Clinton camp has been hoping for a massive turnout from the island's 2.4 million registered voters to pad their (rather irrelevant) "popular vote" argument. 30 percent wouldn't put enough votes in play to make a significant impact on that metric (which now is even more confusing given the results of yesterday's Michigan compromise).

As of 10:30 a.m. local time, turnout in Puerto Rico was around 20-25 percent, lower than usual, but that's being chalked up to a possible "church effect". Just got an update:

Turn out has increased now (as of 12:15) in the metropolitian area; an expected stronghold for Clinton. I am on the base now, but will go out and drive through the different polling places, and give you my thoughts on that as well. Will call for the other districts too -- update you in 30-40 mins...

Update: Al Giordano's predictions:

The Field projects that Clinton will win 62 percent to 38 percent for Obama <...>

36 pledged district delegates:

District 1, San Juan: Obama 2 - 4 Clinton
District 2, Bayamón: Obama 2 – 3 Clinton
District 3, Arecibo: Obama 2 – 2 Clinton
District 4, Mayagüez: Obama 2 – 2 Clinton
District 5, Ponce: Obama 2 – 2 Clinton
District 6, Guayama: Obama 2 – 2 Clinton
District 7, Humacao: Obama 2 – 2 Clinton
District 8, Carolina: Obama 2 – 3 Clinton

Update II: Rosello sends another update:

Turnout is getting significantly high in Bayamon and San Juan... Long lines. Caguas (Part of the Humacao District 7) is having problems... I suspect you will hear about voter fraud there (read the blurb about list emptying). Some polling places only have representatives of one candidate in this town.

Report from Ponce coming shortly.

Update III: Rosello:

Ponce (Dist 5) Turnout is high -- But consolidation of polling places may drive confusion. No notion if it favors hillary or obama yet.

Remember, Ponce is an Obama stronghold, but with pro-Clinton mayors. So we'll have to wait until votes are counted to see if the mayors' political clout has trumped the electorate's leanings.

[Colobo]

32. I also expect a 62%-38% win for Hillary.

[thewiseguy]

37. It will be closer than that.