Puerto Rican statehood party seeks English ballots

here is an example of politics in Puerto Rico. the head elections officer says they don't have to provide English language ballots because the HAVA doesn't apply to PR because PR is not a US political subdivision. (haha) yet the election includes the contest for the delegate to the US Congress, making the election partly Federal. odd that the Commonwealth party will have to argue their case in a US court while maintaining US law does not apply.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080812/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/puerto_rico_english_ballots;_ylt=Am3TmhV25Fu7TtRCe0x_svS3IxIF

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A political party that favors making Puerto Rico the 51st U.S. state said Tuesday it will demand an English translation of a November ballot.

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A Spanish-only ballot discriminates against 14 percent of 4 million islanders whose first language is English, said Edwin Mundo, an official with the New Progressive Party. A translation of the ballots is expected to help the party's results.

He said the party will file a lawsuit in federal court by next Monday, seeking to overturn a recent decision in which a judge rejected a similar request. Mundo maintains that the federal Help America Vote Act applies to Puerto Rico.

But the president of the island's elections commission ruled last month that the act does not apply in Puerto Rico because it is not a U.S. state or political subdivision. The president also ruled that the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 does not apply for the same reasons.

Changes to the ballot are allowed until Sept. 14, because the government starts printing them the following day.

Puerto Ricans vote on Nov. 4 for local officials and a nonvoting member of Congress, although they do not get to vote for U.S. president.

Bilingual ballots were used in this year's presidential primary and have been used for elections within the New Progressive Party since 2003.