While most Americans attention is focused on the upcoming Presidential and Congressional elections on November 6th there is another election that day that may also have an impact on the political future of the USA.
The small Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico is having a referendum on its future and whether to continue its current association with the USA.

The Puerto Rican Referendum
The Puerto Rican status referendum, 2012 will occur in Puerto Rico on 6 November 2012. Previous referenda on the political status of Puerto Rico have been held in 1967, 1993 and 1998, which resulted in votes of 60.4%, 48.6% and 50.5% in favour of the status quo, respectively.

If Puerto Ricans vote for an option other than the current U.S. territory status, the government of Puerto Rico will be expected to petition the federal government on behalf of the voters. For example, if a majority of voters choose statehood, Puerto Rico's nonvoting Resident Commissioner can be expected to introduce legislation admitting Puerto Rico to the Union. As with other bills, it would have to pass both the House and the Senate, and be signed by the President of the United States, or, if vetoed, veto overridden by 2/3 of each of the House and Senate to become law.

The Question
The forthcoming referendum offers Puerto Ricans three choices: statehood, independence or a third option that offers Puerto Rico a free association with the USA . Rather than hold two referendums for both questions, however, one referendum posing both questions will be held on a single ballot on November 6, 2012, simultaneous with the general elections.

The first referendum will ask voters whether they want to maintain the current status under the territorial clause of the U.S. Constitution or whether they prefer a non-territorial option. A second question on the same ballot will simultaneously give people three status options: statehood, independence or free association (this last one translated as "Estado Libre Asociado Soberano" or a state of sovereign free association).

The Background
In June 2011, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization asked the United States to expedite the process for political status self-determination in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico, unlike several other U.S. territories such as Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is not on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. However, as it is not a state, its citizens do not have the right to full representation in the U.S. Congress. Furthermore, although anyone born in Puerto Rico is a U.S. citizen, U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico may not vote in presidential elections. On December 28, 2011 Governor Luis Fortu?o authorized the referendum for November 6, 2012.

Puerto Rico: A Political Anomaly
First occupied by the USA in 1898 , Puerto Rico has been in a unique position in its relationship with the USA since its inhabitants were made US citizens in 1917. The current constitutional arrangements set up Puerto Rico as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or in Spanish Estado Libre Asociado in 1952. Legally, Puerto Rico is not a state of the USA but rather an ?unincorporated territory? of the USA ultimately under Federal Government supervision.

Constitutionally, Puerto Rico is subject to the Congress's plenary powers under the territorial clause of Article IV, sec. 3, of the U.S. Constitution. U.S. federal law applies to Puerto Rico, even though Puerto Rico is not a state of the American Union and their residents have no voting representation in the U.S. Congress.

Like the States of the American Union, Puerto Rico lacks "the full sovereignty of an independent nation," for example, the power to manage its "external relations with other nations," which was retained by the Federal Government.

Puerto Rico has a republican form of government, subject to U.S. jurisdiction and sovereignty. Its current powers are all delegated by the United States Congress and lack full protection under the United States Constitution. Puerto Rico's head of state is the President of the United States.

However, like a US state the government of Puerto Rico, based on the formal republican system, is composed of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive branch is headed by the Governor, the legislative branch consists of a bicameral Legislative Assembly made up of a Senate upper chamber and a House of Representatives lower chamber.

Because it is not a US state Puerto Rico has no voting delegates in the US House of Representatives or Senate. Instead, Puerto Rico is represented in the United States Congress by a nonvoting delegate, formally called a Resident Commissioner . Puerto Ricans cannot vote in US Federal elections for Congress or the current Presidential Elections.

Though the Commonwealth government has its own tax laws, Puerto Ricans are also required to pay most U.S. federal taxes, with the major exception being the federal personal income tax.

I have been researching a potential chart for the Puerto Rico. I am sure there has been some work done on this already. However, from web browsing I have come up with a few potential charts for Puerto Rico.
Before dive into that I want to offer you a summary of the modern history of Puerto Rico which highlights key dates.

Autonomous Province of the Spanish Empire (1897-1898)
1897-Puerto Rico becomes an autonomous province of the Spanish empire
Puerto Rico, by royal decree, was granted autonomy on November 28,
1897. The Charter of Autonomy granted Puerto Rico more autonomy than ever before in the history of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico elected delegates to both houses of the Spanish Courts. Puerto Ricans elected 35 members of the local house of representatives also 8 of 15 members of the local Administration Council. Local legislature set its own budget and taxes. They accepted or rejected commercial treaties concluded by Spain.
General elections were held in March and on July 17,1898 Puerto Rico's autonomous government began to function, but not for long.

Spanish-American War & US Military occupation (1898)
The Spanish American War broke out in April of 1898. On July 25,1898 Puerto Rico was invaded by the USA. General Nelson A. Miles and 16,000 American troops came in through Guanica located on the island's southwestern shore. The Americans found little opposition. The Spanish forces soon retreated and on October 18, 1898 Puerto Rico's autonomous government was officially changed to an American military government. General John Brooke became the first American governor of Puerto Rico.
The Spanish American War officially ended on December 10, 1898. The Treaty of Paris stated that Spain was to cede Puerto Rico, Guam and Philippines to the USA. Cuba would become a protectorate of the USA.

Transition to Civilian Government (1900)
The military government lasted two years. On May 1, 1900 the US government approved the Foraker Law which changed the military government to a civil government. Under this new government the governor, his cabinet and Higher House of Delegates (something like a senate) were appointed by the President of the USA and approved by the American legislature. A 35 member Local House of Delegates was elected by popular vote. Also Puerto Ricans voted for a Resident Commissioner who represented Puerto Rico in the US House of Representatives but had no vote. However, many Puerto Ricans were unhappy with the new political arrangement. Having been granted autonomy by Spain, Puerto Rico had now taken a step back to colonialism. The discontent was such that in 1909 the House of Delegates refused to pass any bills.

Puerto Ricans Become American Citizens (1917)
On March 2, 1917 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Law. This law granted Puerto Ricans American citizenship. Also the Jones Law granted such freedoms as liberty of speech, freedom of press, presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the right to a trial before being incarcerated and more. Also it created a Senate of 19 senators and a 39 member House of Representatives which was elected by popular vote. The governor was still appointed by President of the USA. The appointed Governor, the President or the US Congress could veto any law approved by the Puerto Rican Congress. Also Puerto Ricans were now eligible to serve in the American Armed Forces. Puerto Ricans took a major role in all of the USA military conflicts from then on.

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (1952-2012)
In 1947, the U.S. granted Puerto Ricans the right to elect democratically their own governor. Luis Mu?oz Mar?n was elected during the 1948 general elections, becoming the first popularly elected governor of Puerto Rico.
In 1950, the U.S. Congress approved Public Law 600 (P.L. 81-600), which allowed for a democratic referendum in Puerto Rico to determine whether Puerto Ricans desired to draft their own local constitution.

In 1950, the U.S. Congress granted Puerto Ricans the right to organize a constitutional convention via a referendum that gave them the option of voting their preference, "yes" or "no", on a proposed U.S. law that would organize Puerto Rico as a "commonwealth" that would continue United States sovereignty over Puerto Rico and its people. Puerto Rico's electorate expressed its support for this measure in 1951 with a second referendum to ratify the constitution."

The Constitution of Puerto Rico was approved by a Constitutional Convention on February 6, 1952, ratified by the U.S. Congress, approved by President Truman on July 3 1952 , and proclaimed by Gov. Mu?oz Mar?n on July 25, 1952, on the anniversary of the July 25, 1898, landing of U.S. troops in the Puerto Rican Campaign of the Spanish-American War, until then an annual Puerto Rico holiday. Puerto Rico adopted the name of Estado Libre Asociado (literally "Free Associated State", officially translated into English as Commonwealth), for its body politic. The United States Congress legislates over many fundamental aspects of Puerto Rican life, including citizenship, currency, postal service, foreign affairs, military defense, communications, labor relations, the environment, commerce, finance, health and welfare, and many others.

Key Dates for Astrological Analysis

From the above I have put together a list of key dates in Puerto Rican history which seems astrologically significant.

1. November 28, 1897-The Royal charter of autonomy is granted to Puerto Rico as an autonomous, self governing province of the Spanish empire.

2. July 17, 1898, Puerto Rico?s First Government takes up office

3. July 25, 1898, US Military Invades Puerto Rico

4. December 10, 1898. The Treaty of Paris stipulated that Spain would cede Puerto Rico to the USA.

5. May 1, 1900 End of US Military Government. Puerto Rican civilian government assumes office.

6. March 2, 1917 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Law. This law granted Puerto Ricans American citizenship and granted various legal rights to Puerto Ricans

7. July 3 1952 President Trueman ratifies new Puerto Rican Constitution

8. July, 25th 1952 Proclamation of Commonwealth of Puerto Rico by Governor Mu?oz Mar?n

I have decided to post up charts 1, 2 , 6 and 8 from the above as they all seem pivotal foundation or inceptional dates for Puerto Rico as a political entity.

They are all displayed as bi-wheels with the election date of November 6th on the outer wheel. I dont know when polls open in Puerto Rico and all of the radix charts are unfortunately untimed.
I think there are some really interesting connections to the Sibly USA chart here. For example the 1897 chart has the Sun and Mars close to the Sibly ASC (16:50 chart). The 1898 chart has a connection to the Sibly (and indeed 4th of July charts in general) with a Cancer Moon and Cancer Sun on the Sibly Mercury. Mercury is in Sagittarius close to the Sibly ASC (16:50) The 1917 chart repeats the links with the Moon again in Cancer and Saturn on the Sibly Mercury. At the ratification of the Puerto Rican constitution in 1952 we have Uranus close to the Sibly Sun in Cancer. The Sun and Venus are also close to the Sibly sun. The 1952 chart for the Proclamation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a bit different with a heavy focus on Leo and the Moon in Virgo. Still, the Leo planets are in a trine relationship to the Sagittiarius rising chart for the USA,

If anyone has any more accurate times for these dates I would appreciate the data. I suspect Mark Penfield may have written on this but I dont possess any of his books at present.

So how might this referendum go? Again we have a stationary retrograde mercury as with the USA Presidential election that day. It seems likely the event might be controversial and possibly in dispute. However, what if the majority of Puerto Ricans finally vote for statehood? That would certainly shake things up in the US!

Mark

Hi Tom,

Glad to see you still have electricity!

The traditional answer is "no." It seems that there are tax benefits for the good citizens of Puerto Rico if the status quo remains. Voting for higher taxes in exchange to have a tiny say in Presidential elections might not be seen as a big advantage.

What you say makes sense judging by previous history. We have the previous referendums of 1967, 1993 and 1998 which all ended up favouring the status quo. Although the margins were very tight in the two previous referendums. The current Governor of Puerto Rico is keen to move to statehood and has craftily worked this up as a two part referendum so that continuing the Commonwealth is not an option if people want any kind of change.

The first question will ask voters whether they want to maintain the current Commonwealth status under the territorial clause of the U.S. Constitution or whether they prefer a non-territorial option. If they vote for any change we move to the second question on the same ballot which will simultaneously give people three status options: statehood, independence or free association (this last one translated as "Estado Libre Asociado Soberano" or a state of sovereign free association).

What exactly the last option means has caused considerable confusion. Critics say its independence by another name.

As for tax I think the main difference is the lack of Federal Personal Income Tax although the Commonwealth has its own tax provisions. Otherwise Puerto Ricans are required to pay most U.S. federal taxes. Your right of course that from a purely financial position Puerto Ricans have little incentive to change the status quo.

Mark

Puerto Ricans have voted in favour of American statehood in their recent referendum:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20238272

Mark, just to tell you how grateful I'm to you for sharing all this knowledge of mundane astrology with us. I'm very new into Mundane astrology, and I'm "eating" all your posts with great enthusiasm and joy.

Keep the good work

Boy, was this a political sleeper, or what? I follow US politics with great interest, but didn't see this topic covered by the mainstream media at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ric ... ndum,_2012

The popular vote on November 6 supported statehood for Puerto Rico. It is non-binding, and admission of a new state has to be approved by Congress according to guidelines spelled out in the Constitution.

This measure could have some chance of passing, with a Democratic President and Senate. The Republican House would fight it vigorously, however, as Puerto Rico would likely be solidly Democratic. You would probably need a Democratic-controlled House and Senate to pass Puerto Rican statehood.

Another sleeper is how vigorously Republican-controlled state legislatures have been gerrymandering House of Representative district boundaries to suppress likely Democratic voting blocks, notably in Texas. Today they claim a conservative victory with the Republican control of the House intact in 2012, but some of their seats resulted from shameless gerrymandering to the disadvantage of likely Democratic voters.

This fact-on-the-ground would also make it hard to muster votes for statehood in the House.

Tom is right that Puerto Ricans are US citizens. They can move to the US any time they want on a US passport. But they can't vote in US national elections.

I dunno, Tom. Somewhere I recall from the pages of US history that taxation without representation is tyranny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Puerto_Rico

Waybread wrote:

Boy, was this a political sleeper, or what? I follow US politics with great interest, but didn't see this topic covered by the mainstream media at all.

Well you heard it here on Skyscript first!

I guess the US media were too distracted with that 'other' election happening that day.

Mark