SAN JUAN (Reuters) - The economically struggling U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico voted overwhelmingly on Sunday in favor of becoming the 51st state, although turnout was low and adding another star to the U.S. flag likely faces an uphill battle in Congress.

A government website for the non-binding referendum, Puerto Rico’s fifth such plebiscite since 1967, showed 97 percent supported statehood. Only 23 percent of the 2.2 million eligible voters participated in the vote.

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello campaigned for statehood as the best avenue to boost future growth for the island, which has $70 billion in debt, a 45 percent poverty rate, woefully underperforming schools and near-insolvent pension and health systems.

“From today going forward, the Federal government will no longer be able to ignore the voice of the majority of the American citizens in Puerto Rico,” Rossello said in a statement.

“It would be highly contradictory for Washington to demand democracy in other parts of the world, and NOT respond to the legitimate right to self-determination that was exercised today in the American territory of Puerto Rico,” he added.

Puerto Rico’s hazy political status, dating back to its 1898 acquisition by the United States from Spain, has contributed to the economic crisis that pushed it last month into the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

“I voted for statehood,” Armando Abreu, a 74-year-old retiree, said after voting. “Even if it’s still a long way off in the distance, it’s our only hope.”

FILE PHOTO: The flags of the U.S. and Puerto Rico fly outside the Capitol building in San Juan, Puerto Rico May 4, 2017. REUTERS/ Alvin Baez

Those in favor of statehood for the mainly Spanish-speaking Caribbean island hope the new status would put the territory on equal standing with the 50 U.S. states, giving them more access to federal funds and the right to vote for U.S. president.

Under the current system, Puerto Rico’s 3.5 million American citizens do not pay federal taxes, vote in presidential elections or receive proportionate federal funding on programs like the Medicaid health insurance system for the poor. The U.S. government oversees policy and financial areas such as infrastructure, defense and trade.

Rossello will ask Congress to respect the result, but Puerto Rico is seen as a low priority in Washington.

‘BOGUS PLEBISCITE’

The island’s two main opposition parties boycotted the vote, which gave Puerto Ricans three options: becoming a U.S. state; remaining a territory; or becoming an independent nation, with or without some continuing political association with the United States.

Puerto Rico’s former governor, Rafael Hernandez Colon, said in a statement: “A contrived plebiscite fabricated an artificial majority for statehood by disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Commonwealth supporters.”

Rather than heading to the polls, some 500 Puerto Ricans marched on the streets of San Juan, waving Puerto Rico’s flag and burning the American flag while chanting in support of independence.

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“This is a bogus plebiscite. Our future is independence. We need to be able to decide our own fate,” said Liliana Laboy, one of the organizers of the protest.

Boycotters were also angry about the costly referendum at a time when over 400 schools have closed and many Puerto Ricans are struggling to make ends meet. Schools where voting took place were in poor condition, with cracked paint and bare-bones playgrounds.

Puerto Rico spent an estimated $8 million on the campaign and election process, according to a government spokesman.</s>Despite an overwhelming vote to make the island they call home the 51st state, Puerto Ricans are unsure that their political status will change anytime soon.

On Sunday, Puerto Ricans voted for U.S. statehood in a non-binding referendum and the outcome was fascinating. Ninety-seven percent of ballots cast were in favor of statehood, but on an island where voter participation usually hovers around 80 percent, only 23% of registered voters cast ballots. The voting stations that are accustomed to long lines were virtually empty on Sunday because Puerto Rico's two main opposition parties boycotted the vote.

Consequently, the low turnout may weaken Governor Ricardo Rosselló's case for statehood in Washington, where Puerto Rico is already seen as a low priority. Still, Governor Rosselló plans to use the victory to press Congress to Admit Puerto Rico to the union.

"From today going forward, the federal government will no longer be able to ignore the voice of the majority of the American citizens in Puerto Rico," Rosselló said.

Puerto Rico has been a territory since 1898, when the Island was acquired from Spain after the Spanish-American War. This is the fifth time during Puerto Rico's relationship with the United States that Puerto Ricans voted on their future. However, this time the vote came after Puerto Rico declared a form of bankruptcy.

Marc Joffe, director of policy research for the California Policy Center, says that "there's not going to be a big appetite to bring in a bankrupt state."

The truth is that Puerto Rico has undergone a recession for almost a decade. The debt in Puerto Rico is now $74 billion – which equals about $20,000 per person living on the island. The unemployment rate is 11.5% which is much higher than the 4.3% that makes up the U.S. average, and the island has a 45% poverty rate. But that's not all, more than 150 public schools are being closed due to the mass exodus of Puerto Ricans to the mainland and home values are dropping dramatically.

Many Puerto Ricans like 50-year-old Ana Velazquez, said Puerto Rico's economic problems were so great that they overshadowed other considerations, such as the language, culture and identity that could be lost if the island became a state. However, this past Sunday she arrived at the same conclusion as 8 of 10 Puerto Ricans living on the island: she did not vote.

One thing is certain, the voters that did show up agree that Puerto Rico needs the United States now more than ever.</s>The banner headline will read 97 percent of Puerto Rico voted for statehood, but only 23 percent of voters cast ballots on June 11 due to opposition boycotting.

Of the 2,458,036 registered voters in Puerto Rico, about 548,387, or 97 percent, of Puerto Ricans voted in a non-binding referendum for the territory to become America’s 51st state, while approximately 16,960, or 3 percent, were opposed, according to the Wall Street Journal review of early returns. Turnout was just 23 percent.

Governor Ricardo Rosselló and his legislature-majority New Progressive Party [Republican] held the referendum, despite filing on May 3 for the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States. The island and its state-owned utility ran out of cash and defaulted on its $73 billion of debt. After the filing, Breitbart News reported that Puerto Rico’s public pension plans have only $1.8 billion in assets to pay $45 billion in liabilities.

The New Progressive Party, referred to as PNP in Spanish, pushed the “yes” vote for statehood. President Barack Obama provided the $2.5 million in funding to hold the referendum. But with the PNP narrowly winning the governorship in 2016, the Republican Party’s GOTV (get-out-the-vote) operation funded social media and TV ads in favor of statehood.

Jennifer Gonzalez-Colón, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner and only nonvoting member of Congress, is a strong advocate of statehood as a leader of the PNP. Just after taking office in January, she introduced statehood legislation into Congress, but found little interest in the idea that Puerto Rico would pick up two U.S. Senators.

Congressional Democrats with Puerto Rican heritage, including Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) and Nydia Velázquez (D-NY, oppose statehood and urged the islanders to boycott the referendum, according to the Associated Press.

Puerto Rico currently suffers from a poverty rate of 45 percent and 12.4 percent unemployment. The Republicans blame the island’s 10-year depression on the confusing status of being a territory. But Democrats enjoy spending the $22 billion in federal subsidies that the territory receives.

Puerto Rico faces a huge battle against vulture capitalist hedge funds that have bought its defaulted bonds for as little as 25 percent of face value. The vultures claim that Puerto Rico can regain its solvency by raising taxes and firing tens of thousands public sector workers.

Bloomberg reported on Election Day that Puerto Rico and the vultures will soon face off next week in a New York federal bankruptcy court “over who owns cash collected by the government’s sales tax agency, known by its Spanish acronym Cofina.” The island claims that despite not making any bond payments, it needs the cash to avoid beginning to miss payroll and disability payments by around November 1. Investors claim their bonds should be paid first.</s>CNN Money — Puerto Ricans voted overwhelmingly Sunday to become the 51st U.S. state, but there is no celebrating yet.

Only Congress can make Puerto Rico a state, and there's little appetite to do that right now. Congress is a lot more concerned about the island's massive bankruptcy. President Trump has made it clear that he will not bail the island out.

Puerto Rico has a huge debt load of $70 billion — or about $20,000 for every man, woman and child living on the island. The U.S. territory filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in May.

"Today, we the people of Puerto Rico, are sending a strong and clear message to the world claiming our equal rights as American citizens," Governor Ricardo Rosselló said, calling it a "historic election."

Rosselló is heading to Washington this week to try to convince Congress that statehood is best for the island, but it's unclear whether that would help stop the downward spiral of the island's economy.

The huge debt is only part of the problem. Puerto Rico has been in recession for almost a decade. The unemployment rate is 11.5% (compared to just 4.3% for the U.S. overall). Home values are plunging.

What would statehood help?

As U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans can simply pack up and move to the mainland U.S. for better job and educational opportunities. The island has lost 10% of its population in the past decade. Many of those who are leaving are the best educated workers who can easily get jobs in Texas, Florida or New York. A doctor a day is leaving the island, creating a dire health crisis.

Becoming a state would give Puerto Rico more say in Congress and more money for the U.S. government. The island is currently under the thumb of a Fiscal Oversight Board installed by Congress. One of the biggest complains on the island is that it receives a lot less money for programs like Medicaid than it would if it were a state.

Statehood would also make a lot of stuff cheaper on the island. Cars, for example, cost about 40% more in Puerto Rico than on the U.S. mainland. That's because of an old rule called the Jones Act that forces goods to go the mainland first and then be shipped only on a U.S. vessel to Puerto Rico. That's a lot more expensive than sending something from China directly to the island.

"It would be highly contradictory for Washington to demand democracy in other parts of the world, and not respond to the legitimate right to self-determination that was exercised today in the American territory of Puerto Rico," Gov. Rosselló says.

But becoming a state won't magically solve the island's deep problems. Here's why.

1) Puerto Ricans don't pay federal taxes right now. While becoming a state would give Puerto Rico additional rights, it would also mean people there would have to pay federal income taxes for the first time. That would be an additional burden on Puerto Ricans who are already struggling to pay enough in taxes to cover the island's debts.

2) It won't erase the debt. Becoming a state won't magically eliminate the $70 billion debt. The island's bankruptcy process is already under way. There will have to be a resolution between creditors and the island to pay back most, if not all, of the debt.

3) Only 23% of the population voted Sunday. Over 97% of the votes were for statehood, but turnout was very low. A mere 23% of the population voted. That will make it difficult for the governor to get Congress to pay much attention to the vote.

Still, many Puerto Ricans see statehood as about a lot more than the economy.

"I pray to God that before I die I see Puerto Rico as the 51st state," Edwin Alicea, an Army veteran, told CNNMoney. "We don't have representation in Congress, we don't vote for the president, but they all come here for fundraisers, take our money, they send us to war."

Over 1,200 young Puerto Rican men and women joined the military in 2015, according to Department of Defense figures shared with CNNMoney. That works out to just under 1% of the island's population, a very similar percentage that most other states have joining the U.S. military each year.

"We're American citizens, but second class citizens. We don't receive equal treatment," Alicea says.</s>SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A large majority of voters in Puerto Rico supported U.S. statehood for their island in a referendum on Sunday, according to partial results, but a low turnout and a boycott by several opposition parties called into question the validity of the non-binding vote.

More than 480,000 votes were cast for statehood, more than 7,500 for free association/independence and more than 6,500 for independence, with roughly half of polling centers reporting. The participation rate was nearly 23 percent with roughly 2.26 million registered voters.

U.S. Congress has final say on any changes to the U.S. territory's political status, regardless of the referendum's final outcome. And three Puerto Rican political parties that favor other options than statehood boycotted the vote, which took place amid an economic crisis that has triggered an exodus of islanders to the U.S. mainland.

Puerto Rico Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz vowed to push for statehood anyway.

"Congress never freely gave away statehood," he said. "U.S. states had to fight for it."

The referendum coincides with the 100th anniversary of the United States granting U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans, though they are barred from voting in presidential elections and have only one congressional representative with limited voting powers.

Among those hoping Puerto Rico will become a state is Jose Alvarez, a 61-year-old businessman.

"Now is the moment to do it," he said. "We've spent a lot of years working on a socioeconomic model that has not necessarily given us the answer."

Many believe the island's territorial status has contributed to its 10-year economic recession, which has prompted nearly half a million Puerto Ricans to flee to the U.S. mainland and was largely sparked by decades of heavy borrowing and the elimination of federal tax incentives.

Puerto Rico is exempt from the U.S. federal income tax, but it still pays Social Security and Medicare and local taxes and receives less federal funding than U.S. states.

Those inequalities and the ongoing crisis prompted 66-year-old Maria Quinones to vote for the first time in such a referendum, the fifth on Puerto Rico's status.

"We have to vote because things are not going well," she said. "If we were a state, we would have the same rights."

Quinones said many of her relatives are among the nearly half a million Puerto Ricans who have moved to the U.S. mainland in the past decade to find a more affordable cost of living or jobs as the island of 3.4 million people struggles with a 12 percent unemployment rate.

Those who remain behind have been hit with new taxes and higher utility bills on an island where food is 22 percent more expensive than the U.S. mainland and public services are 64 percent more expensive.

David Aldarondo, a 31-year-old law student from Fishkill, New York, has lived in Puerto Rico for nearly a decade and said he believes independence is the best option.

"It would be rough," he acknowledged. "Eventually, maybe not in my lifetime, but we could become a great nation."

Those who oppose statehood worry the island will lose its cultural identity and warn that Puerto Rico will struggle even more financially because it will be forced to pay millions of dollars in federal taxes.

"The cost of statehood on the pocketbook of every citizen, every business, every industry will be devastating," Carlos Delegado, secretary of the opposition Popular Democratic Party, told The Associated Press. "Whatever we might receive in additional federal funds will be cancelled by the amount of taxes the island will have to pay."

His party also has noted that the U.S. Justice Department has not backed the referendum.

A department spokesman told the AP that the agency has not reviewed or approved the ballot's language. Federal officials in April rejected an original version, in part because it did not offer the territory's current status as an option. The administration of Gov. Ricardo Rossello added it and sent the ballot back for review, but the department said it needed more time and asked that the vote be postponed, which it wasn't.

No clear majority emerged in the first three referendums on status, with voters almost evenly divided between statehood and the status quo. During the last referendum in 2012, 54 percent said they wanted a status change. Sixty-one percent who answered a second question said they favored statehood, but nearly half a million voters left that question blank, leading many to claim the results weren't legitimate.

Some statehood supporters on Sunday expressed dismay that certain voting centers appeared empty.

"We are worse off than I thought, in the sense that we don't give a damn what happens to this island," said Jose Miranda, a retired TV and radio producer who lived 30 years in the U.S. mainland and is returning because he believes life is better over there.</s>SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO—A large majority of voters in Puerto Rico supported U.S. statehood for their island in a referendum on Sunday, according to partial results, but a low turnout and a boycott by several opposition parties called into question the validity of the non-binding vote.More than 480,000 votes were cast for statehood, more than 7,500 for free association/independence and more than 6,500 for independence, with roughly half of polling centres reporting. The participation rate was nearly 23 per cent with roughly 2.26 million registered voters.U.S. Congress has final say on any changes to the U.S. territory’s political status, regardless of the referendum’s final outcome.Meanwhile, Puerto Rico Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz vowed to push for statehood.“Congress never freely gave away statehood,” he said. “U.S. states had to fight for it.”Article Continued BelowThe referendum coincides with the 100th anniversary of the United States granting U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans, though they are barred from voting in presidential elections and have only one congressional representative with limited voting powers.Read more:Puerto Rico defaults on $779-million debt</s>Puerto Ricans who voted for US statehood in a non-binding referendum Sunday are “claiming our equal rights as American citizens,” Puerto Rico’s governor says.

Ninety-seven percent of the votes favored statehood but voter participation was just 23% after opposition parties called for a boycott of what they called a “rigged” process in part over the ballot language.

Congress, the only body that can approve new states, will ultimately decide whether the status of the US commonwealth changes.

“It will be up to this new generation of Puerto Ricans to demand and claim in Washington the end of the current improper colonial relationship, and begin a transition process to fully incorporate Puerto Rico as the next state of the Union,” Governor Ricardo Rosselló of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party said in a statement Sunday.

For Puerto Rico to become a US state, Congress would need to pass a statute laying out the transition process. If Congress does not pass a statute, Puerto Rico’s status will remain as it is.

Options on the weekend referendum included remaining a commonwealth, becoming a state or entering free association/independence. Free association is an official affiliation with the United States. Typically it would include Puerto Rico still receiving military assistance and funding but the ballot says the terms would be agreed upon by the two countries as sovereign nations.

But the ballot’s previous language prompted calls by opposition parties to boycott what they saw as a rigged vote.

Sunday’s ballot was a revised version after the Department of Justice wrote to Roselló in April saying the referendum ballot at the time incorrectly omitted Puerto Rico’s current commonwealth status as a ballot option, offering only statehood or free association/independence. The letter was published in the local newspaper El Vocero.

The previous ballot incorrectly claimed statehood was “the only option” for Puerto Ricans to secure their American citizenship. The DOJ in its letter pointed out that Puerto Ricans are US citizenship by birth, asking that the “potentially misleading” statement be removed.

The ballot was later changed to include “current territorial status” as an option, but the call for a boycott remained.

Four previous plebiscites, or popular votes, have been held to decide the commonwealth’s status in relation to the United States, with a majority of voters for the first time choosing statehood in 2012.

Fifty-four percent of voters in that referendum backed changing Puerto Rico’s current territorial status. In a separate question, 61% chose statehood as the alternative, compared with 33% for the semi-autonomous “sovereign free association” and 6% for outright independence.

Some argued the results should have been considered a “no” since more than one-third of voters left the part about alternative status blank. Congress did not act on that referendum.

In 2012, around 1.8 million people voted — a turnout of 77.5% — but State Electoral Commission figures show that just 518,000 people (or 23% of eligible voters) voted in Sunday’s referendum. According to the commission’s numbers, 300,000 fewer people voted for statehood on Sunday than in 2012.

Hector Ferrer, leader of Popular Democratic Party, said eight out of 10 “stayed home” or “went to the beach” instead of voting.

“The governor lost, statehood lost,” Ferrer said. “They lost 300,000 votes in four years.”

Rosselló contested the commission’s figures, telling CNN the electorate was 1.6 million — meaning turnout was 33%.

In a statement, the governor said that he would travel to the US capital to speak with Congress, the White House, and other agencies regarding the referendum results.

“We will now take these results to Washington, D.C., with the strong support of not only a duly executed electoral exercise, but also of a contingency of national and international observers, who can attest to the fact that the process was fair, well organized and democratic,” Rosselló said.

“From today going forward, the federal Government will no longer be able to ignore the voice of the majority of the American citizens in Puerto Rico. It would be highly contradictory for Washington to demand democracy in other parts of the world, and not respond to the legitimate right to self-determination that was exercised today in the American territory of Puerto Rico,” he said.

Puerto Rico came under US control in 1898 after the Spanish-American War. It has its own governor and legislative body and it became a US commonwealth territory with its own constitution in 1952.

Its commonwealth status means Puerto Rico is subject to US federal laws, though island residents are exempt from some federal taxes.

Puerto Ricans have been US citizens since 1917, however, as residents of a commonwealth territory rather than a state they can’t vote for president in the US general election. The territory has a nonvoting delegate in Congress, called a resident commissioner.

It also gets US military protection and receives federal funding from the government for highways and social programs, just not as much as official states receive.

What are the arguments for and against?

Roselló has argued that statehood for Puerto Rico could help the island’s economy.

Puerto Rico declared a form of bankruptcy on May 3, owing its creditors $73 billion.

Unemployment is high, holding steady about 11.5% since March, and about 46% of the population of 3.4 million people live below the poverty level.

Popular Democratic Party Senator Jose Nadal Power wrote an op-ed in El Nuevo Dia last Monday arguing that statehood was not the answer.

“This Sunday’s plebiscite wastes millions of dollars and is not a good use of the time and energy we must devote to solving the fiscal and economic crisis of Puerto Rico. It lacks the backing of the United States federal government and comes at the worst possible time to solicit political concessions from Congress,” he wrote.

Meantime Senator Juan Dalmau of the Puerto Rican Independence Party said on Twitter that: “Including colony as an option in the plebiscite is a setback to the aspirations of decolonization and former governor Anibal Acevedo Vila of the Popular Democratic Party said on Facebook that he would not be voting “as an act of conscience.”

“Tomorrow, not voting is a form of voting. [the New Progressive Party] has lied about the “bonanza” of statehood and the supposedly devastating consequences of not asking for it,” he said.</s>A bankrupt and desperate Puerto Rico on June 11 voted for full annexation by the United States.

Just 23 percent of the island’s 2 million eligible voters turned out for the referendum to cast a ballot in favor of the territory becoming a U.S. state, AFP reported.

Opposition parties who support the status quo had called for a boycott of the non-binding vote.

Puerto Rico, which has been an unincorporated U.S. territory since 1898, faces public debt of $73 billion and is mired in a stagnant economy in which 45 percent of the population lives in poverty.

President Donald Trump has several times argued against bailing out the territory.

The U.S. Congress would need to approve any change to statehood.

Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rossello vowed to defend the result which showed that 97.2 percent of those who voted wanted statehood, 1.5 percent supported independence and 1.3 percent backed no change.

“We will go before international forums to defend the argument of the importance of Puerto Rico being the first Hispanic state in the United States,” Rossello said.

Rossello, who heads the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, said his government would fight “in Washington and throughout the world” for the Caribbean island territory to be accepted as the 51st U.S. state, and for Puerto Ricans to gain “all the same opportunities” as other American citizens.

The opposition Popular Democratic Party had said “statehood will win by a landslide” because of the boycott by opposition parties. The Puerto Rican Independence Party had called the vote a “farce.”

Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917. But they are not allowed to vote in presidential or congressional elections unless they reside in the mainland United States.

The June 11 referendum was the fifth on the territory’s status – dating back to 1967.

The question of status is “fundamental” to breaking free from economic turmoil, said Christian Sobrino, chief economic adviser to the Puerto Rican government.

“It is because Puerto Rico is in an unequal relationship” with the U.S. government that the bankrupt island’s finances are now under a largely U.S.-appointed control board, he told AFP.

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Login To Your FaceBook to Make Comments</s>SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico's governor is pushing ahead with his top campaign promise of trying to convert the U.S. territory into a state, holding a Sunday referendum to let voters send a message to Congress.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello's party has launched an aggressive ad campaign urging people to "demand respect" with their vote -- to choose statehood so the island can obtain equal treatment from the federal government that some say would ease a 10-year economic recession that has spurred nearly a half-million Puerto Ricans to flee to the U.S. mainland.

While Puerto Rico is exempt from the U.S. federal income tax, it still pays Social Security and Medicare and local taxes but receives less federal funding than U.S. states.

Statehood supporters and some economists say this unequal treatment has contributed to the island's deep economic crisis, which was largely driven by heavy borrowing and in part by the elimination of federal tax incentives.

"It's clear we need to change our course toward a new future," said Puerto Rico Sen. Carmelo Rios, a member of the governor's party. "Puerto Rico is at its most critical point in its modern history, where its political-economic model has collapsed, society is in a crisis, the government cannot sustain itself, and we have seen with much pain how our people leave us in search of a better chance of quality of life."

The referendum coincides with the 100th anniversary of U.S. citizenship being granted to Puerto Ricans, who are barred from participating in presidential elections and have a representative in Congress with limited voting powers.

Voters will choose one of three options: statehood, free association/independence or the current territorial status. If a majority chooses "free association/independence," Puerto Rico would hold another referendum in early October with those two options. Regardless of the referendum's outcome, the U.S. government has final say on changes to Puerto Rico's political status, and many believe a Republican-led Congress would not approve Puerto Rico becoming the 51st state.

A recent survey by Gaither International found that more than 60 percent of people interviewed believed that solving the island's status would ease Puerto Rico's problems. A May 24-26 house-to-house poll published by local newspaper El Nuevo Dia found 52 percent of those interviewed favored statehood, compared with 17 percent for the status quo and 15 percent for free association/independence. It had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.

Rossello this week signed a measure that would authorize him to choose two senators and five representatives and send them to Washington to demand statehood, a strategy Tennessee employed to join the union in the 18th century.

"Our colonial status is unsustainable and has contributed to the current fiscal and economic crisis," Rossello said.

Puerto Rico has held four referendums on the issue. No clear majority emerged in the first three, with voters almost evenly divided between statehood and the status quo. During the last referendum in 2012, 54 percent said they wanted a status change. Sixty-one percent who answered a second question -- about 834,000 people -- said they favored statehood. But nearly half a million voters left that question blank, leading many to claim the results were not legitimate.

Critics question the timing of the newest referendum, coming about a month after Puerto Rico's governor announced the island would enter a bankruptcy like process to restructure part of its $73 billion public debt.

"Pushing statehood under normal times would be difficult enough; to push while literally under bankruptcy court is absolutely ridiculous," said Amilcar Barreto, a Northeastern University associate professor who focuses on Puerto Rico politics and identity. "There couldn't be a worse time ... They really haven't given much thought, perhaps out of desperation, on how that's going to swing in Congress."

Three political parties in Puerto Rico are boycotting Sunday's referendum, including the main opposition party. They question why the government is spending more than $5 million on the vote during a crisis, and note that the U.S. Justice Department has not backed the referendum.

A department spokesman said the agency has not reviewed or approved the language on the ballot. Federal officials in April rejected an earlier version, in part because it did not include the territory's current status as an option. Rossello's administration added it and sent the ballot back for review, but the department said it needed more time and asked that the vote be postponed, which it wasn't.

Even if there's a clear winner on Sunday, nothing will change without U.S. government authorization, Barreto said.

"It's all in Congress' hands," he said. "I strongly suspect that regardless of the outcome, that Congress as a collective will probably just ignore the results of the plebiscite and after a week pretend it didn't even happen."</s>It was the U.S. territory’s fifth referendum vote since 1967, and about 97 percent, or half a million people, voted to become a state. By Sunday evening, only about half of polling centers were finished reporting results, but given the massive margin the end tally will likely be in favor. However, as of 6 p.m. voter turnout was about 23 percent, with some 2.3 million voters in all. This will probably discredit the vote, but Puerto Rico’s Senate president, Thomas Rivera Schatz, said he would continue his push for state hoood anyway.

Puerto Rican voters overwhelmingly supported the chance to become the 51st state in the U.S. on Sunday’s referendum vote, according to early tallies. It’s a significant gesture from the island, which is a U.S. territory, but low turnout, a boycott by opposition parties, and the likely pushback from Congress, make the decision an unlikely one.

The island has been a territory since 1898 when the U.S. took it from Spain after the Spanish-American War. Puerto Ricans are citizens, but they do not vote for president, and have only one non-voting representative in Congress. They do not pay federal taxes, but they do pay Social Security, Medicare, and local taxes. The latest referendum was pushed for by the governing New Progressive Party. But ultimately it’s Congress that decides if the U.S. territory’s status can switch, and a move toward a statehood would likely be challenged by Republicans. Advocates for statehood argue that with the amount of corporate and income taxes Puerto Rico would be due, the island would not be in its current economic condition.

Schools are closing, businesses are leaving, and half a million people have left to the U.S. mainland. A 10-year economic recession, brought on partially by heavy borrowing, has left little economic future for residents. Last month, Puerto Rico declared bankruptcy, making it the largest municipality to do so in U.S. history.

Those against statehood doubt it could help its financial crisis, because Puerto Rico would also have to pay millions in taxes. And the island, they say, would lose its cultural identity.

In its first three referendums for statehood, there was no clear majority, and citizens were almost evenly divided for statehood and against. In the last referendum vote, in 2012, 54 percent of voters said they wanted a change in status. But when answering the second question, the one asking to choose statehood or independence, more than half a million voters left the answer blank. With little more than 20 percent voter turnout so far, this vote, too, will likely be called another indecision.
With a turnout of 23% eligible voters, 97% of the voters in Puerto Rico request that the island become a U.S. state.