Posted on Mar 7, 2016
SGT(P) Unit Supply Specialist
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Just yesterday, Marco Rubio won the Republican Primaries in Puerto Rico. I do admit I'm not an expert on Politics but, for me, it doesn't make any sense to do Primaries in a Territory that is not allowed to vote in the Presidential Elections.

Could you bring me some understanding here? Could you explain me why is this "important"?
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CPT Jim Schwebach
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Edited 8 y ago
Because the Electoral College is based on the number of senators and representatives the individual states have and Puerto Rico has neither, residents of that commonwealth do not vote in national elections. BUT, primaries are not national elections, in fact they are truly private enterprises sponsored by the various political parties. Primaries elect representatives to the party convention. The number of delegates from each jurisdiction recognized by the particular party is up to the party. So if the GOP wants to have delegates from Puerto Rico (or Samoa) at their convention, they can. And the PR GOP can select how those delegates are chosen and implement the method chosen. Hence a primary in Puerto Rico. And the Puerto Rican Republicans, while they have no voice in who becomes President, do have some say in who gets nominated for that office.
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SGT(P) Unit Supply Specialist
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CPT Jim Schwebach thanks for clearing this Sir.
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MAJ Security Cooperation Planner
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The short answer is because the parties wanted the voters there to.

The primary system is set up by each individual party, not the state or federal government.
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SGT(P) Unit Supply Specialist
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MAJ (Join to see) this makes sense, thanks Sir.
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SSG Budget Analyst
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The reason is because the presidential election is governed by federal law, whereas the primaries are governed by political parties.
In other words, political parties can decide who their party nominee is by whatever criteria they choose. If they want to include US territories, such as Puerto Rico - that's up to them. If they'd like to include the citizens of England, or Angola, that's up to them.
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SGT(P) Unit Supply Specialist
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SSG (Join to see) this was the simplest, yet the clearest, response of all.
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