Puerto Rico officials reject request to extend voter registration deadline
Officials in Puerto Rico rejected a petition to extend a voter registration deadline following an outcry over long lines formed by those seeking to participate in this year’s general election
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Officials in Puerto Rico have rejected a petition to extend a voter registration deadline following an outcry over long lines formed by those seeking to participate in this year’s general election.
The island’s two main parties, the Popular Democratic Party and the New Progressive Party, voted against the request late Monday, as did the alternate president of the elections commission.
Those living in Puerto Rico have until Sept. 21 to register. Members of two other parties, the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the Citizen Victory Movement, which was created in recent years, had requested that the deadline be pushed to a month before the Nov. 5 election.
Hundreds of people have stood in daylong lines to register for the election in recent weeks as the U.S. Caribbean territory’s two main parties, which have long dominated the political scene, face stiff challenges from other parties.
