The 51st State

Puerto Rico held a referendum yesterday and the news of that was somewhat lost amid the Presidential results.

The referendum was in two parts. The first part was whether to maintain their current status as a United States territory. The voters opted to terminate their status as a territory 53.99-46.01. The second part of the referendum was that if the majority opted to terminate the current status, they were to choose from three options: apply for statehood, independent nation status, or an independent nation with associated status with the United States (the US currently has this status with the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau). The voters opted for statehood with 61.15% of the vote. Associated free state came in second with 33.31% of the vote.

As such, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico will draft legislation to be submitted to Congress applying for statehood. This bill will have to pass both the House and Senate and be signed by President Obama. I don't forsee anyone having a problem with accepting Puerto Rico as a full state after all this time so it is very possible that the 51st state will be admitted sometime next year.