AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Puerto Rico’s Democratic presidential primary

WASHINGTON (AP) — Puerto Rico will hold a Democratic presidential primary on Sunday, which will be the only opportunity most registered voters on the island will have to officially weigh in on the race for the White House.

Like other U.S. territories, voters in Puerto Rico can’t cast ballots in the general election but may participate in presidential primaries and send delegates to both the Democratic and Republican national conventions this summer.

President Joe Biden has already won enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination and faces minimal opposition on the ballot Sunday. The Democratic primary was originally scheduled for March 17, but party officials moved the event and implemented cost-saving measures like reducing the number of polling places once it became clear Biden had locked up the nomination. The party estimates the scaled-back primary will cost less than $60,000, down from the approximately $1 million the State Elections Commission had originally budgeted. Puerto Rico Republicans scrapped their traditional primary and instead awarded their 23 delegates to former President Donald Trump on Sunday in a caucus-style vote at which approximately 77% of 1,340 eligible party officials participated. Trump was the only candidate on the ballot.

Although residents of Puerto Rico can’t vote for president in November, they could potentially still influence Electoral College calculations. In the 2020 general election, both the Biden and Trump campaigns had outreach efforts in Puerto Rico with the hopes that voters there would in turn influence their friends and relatives on the U.S. mainland.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value»