Tanzina Vega: Puerto Rico can't seem to catch a break. On Sunday, the Islands Election Commission had to partially suspend its primaries due to unprecedented chaos at the polls. According to the Associated Press about half of the Islands, 110 voting centers did not receive ballots or receive them hours late. This comes just one year after political turmoil rock the Island and also emitted ongoing recovery from Hurricane Maria, a devastating financial crisis, and a spate of earthquakes earlier this year.

Don't forget, Puerto Rico like much of the world is also still in the thick of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Joining me now is Dánica Coto correspondent for the Associated Press covering the Caribbean. Dánica, welcome back to the show.

Dánica Coto: Thank you for having me.

Tanzina: Why weren't their ballots at these voting centers? What happened?

Dánica: Well, the president of the elections commission gives several reasons including the pandemic, tropical storm Isaias which occurred a week before the primaries were held. The last has been a request from the Islands two main parties for more than 75000 additional ballots. In addition, other officials say that the suppliers ask for payment upfront. First of all, its kind request. What went wrong depends on who you ask. The last of the remaining ballots did not arrive until after 8:00 PM on Saturday, August 8th, when they were supposed to arrive on August 5th.

Then the trucks that they rent to take briefcases containing the ballots and electronic voting machines to these centers across the Island did not go out until Sunday, the day of the primary when normally, they leave one or two days before an election.

Tanzina: The election commission has suspended the primary until next Sunday, August 16th. Does that apply to all the precincts or just where there weren't enough ballots at the time? Does everyone have to start again here?

Dánica: No. Right now, the plan is like you said, halt part of the primary or the remaining primary rather on August 16th for those precincts where voting never took place. These are the centers that because they either never received the ballots or they received them too late for them to hold voting that they just never opened. This, of course, raises the question of what happens to voters whose centers eventually received the ballots held the voting but these voters were not able to return because they were working or because they simply didn't realize that the ballots had arrived.

Tanzina: After Sunday's chaos, Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced and other officials are calling for the resignation of Juan Ernesto Dávila who's the president of the election commission. What did the election commission say?

Dánica: Well, the president did not face the public or the media for the entire day. On Sunday, he granted only two interviews to a radio station and a TV station. Many were demanding that he makes some statement that he explained what was going on. Of course, that led to a lot of frustration, a lot of anger. Then on Monday, he talked to more people and he said that he does not feel it's responsible to step down right now. Keep in mind that the governor has asked for his resignation and other top officials as well. He said once the primary is over he will consider and analyze that request.

Tanzina: Let's even give our listeners some background here. The candidates who are participating in the primaries are from two of the major Puerto Rican parties; The Popular Democratic Party and the New Progressive Party which is the party that's currently in power. Who is running for this election? Who are the key figures that we need to keep an eye on?

Dánica: There're several key figures. There's two people running for the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, which is the governor's party. Of course, it's the governor running against Pedro Pierluisi. He's a seasoned politician. He represented Puerto Rico and Congress from 2009 to 2017. Now both the governor and Pedro Pierluisi, they have both served as governors. After the previous governor, Ricardo Rosselló stepped down following huge protests in August 2019.

At the time, Pierluisi served less than a week as governor after the Island Supreme Court ruled that the current governor who was at the time the Justice secretary that she was constitutionally next in line because there was no Secretary of State at the time.

Tanzina: We're talking about Wanda Vázquez who initially said she didn't want the role and then accepted the role.

Dánica: Correct. She accepted the role, and even after she accepted the role, she said I'm not interested in running and now she is running. Moving on to the Popular Democratic Party, that's the main opposition party of the Island. It supports the Island’s current political status as a US territory. This primary is the first one it's holding. For the first time, in its 82-year history.

There're three people running, to become the nominee for that party. The first one is pretty well known. She's San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. She's known for her public spats with President Donald Trump, especially after Hurricane Maria. The second candidate is a longtime senator Eduardo Bhatia. The third candidate is Carlos Delgado, who's the mayor of the Northwest coastal town of Isabela.

Tanzina: What's the historical precedent for this, Dánica? Is this the first time we've seen this type of electoral madness in Puerto Rico?

Dánica: It is. It's the first time that this happens in Puerto Rico and that's why it's taken many people aback. Things are bad on this island but it had not reached this level of dysfunction that has proved to be an embarrassment to many. People are incredulous. I was at one voting center that never opened on Sunday. Look at it in Catalina and the reaction from voters range from when people told them no, we're closed the ballots haven't arrived. They said, "I'm sorry, what do you mean? I don't understand." They saw them kept lingering around trying to absorb the information, trying to figure out whether they could return.

There was an elderly woman who they gave her a chair, they gave her some food and keep in mind, Puerto Rico has a lot of elderly people and many of these people go early in the morning. It was some officials said it's outrageous that these centers will be opening around 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 in the afternoon when elderly people are not going to stand in the blistering sun somewhere open until ten o'clock at night, which again, it's not an ideal situation, especially given the pandemic. There are people standing in line and face masks are required but there's a lot of sun and people were trying to huddle under either roofs or trees. Overall, it was just an incredibly chaotic situation.

Tanzina: Dánica, does the Puerto Rican constitution say anything about this? Do we know legally what the next steps are supposed to be?

Dánica: Actually, it's the electoral law that rules here. I've spoken to several legal experts who say this is a unprecedented. The law doesn't really address this. There's a lot of gray area right now. The future of the primary is basically in the hands of the Island Supreme Court. They've agreed to take up four lawsuits, they've combined them. Three of the four lawsuits have been filed by nominees, including Pedro Pierluisi, Carlos Delgado, and Eduardo Bhatia and then the fourth lawsuit was filed by a voter. That ruling could come either on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday and depending on that ruling, we'll know whether the primaries will actually be held on Sunday.

Tanzina: Dánica, there's also talk about a potential plebiscite on Puerto Rico statehood, this has held once every decade more or less, where Puerto Ricans get to decide, wel,l not decide, but they at least get to vote on whether they want to be a state or continue to be a Commonwealth or for independence. This is largely symbolic. It doesn't really have teeth, but it's something that's historically taking place. Is that happening this year?

Dánica: So far, it's about to be happening. The way things are going in Puerto Rico, it's hard to say things will happen because it ends up changing by the minute. This would be the sixth referendum. Again, it's not binding. That would mean that Congress has to approve it, which is incredibly unlikely. There's a Republican president, the Republicans control the Senate. For the first time, this referendum will ask a simple yes or no question, should Puerto Rico immediately be admitted as a US state? Many see it, at least critics still see it as a ploy of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party to get voters out.

Tanzina: Let me just be clear, that's the only question that's going to be asked?

Dánica: Correct, that's the only question. Voter participation is usually high in Puerto Rico, nearly 70% but again, some see this as a ploy to get more voters out, they'll hold this referendum along on the same day of the general elections.

Tanzina: What overall impact, Dánica, is this do you think going to have on how Puerto Ricans see their government on the island?

Dánica: I think it's incredibly eroded the trust. Without a doubt, what little trust voters have left in the government is gone. Puerto Rico has prided itself on fair elections, non-controversial, non-chaotic elections, and this is the first time in history of the government that this happens. It remains to be seen what impact this will have on voter participation. I spoke to some voters who said, "I will absolutely vote, I will stay here all night if I have to.

I will go out again on Sunday, August 16, stay there all day if I have to." While other voters are saying, "That's it, I'm done, the government has completely eroded my trust in them. I'm not participating in this anymore. There's a feeling of this may disappointment of what's the point I'll be voting if nothing's going to change," and so remains to be seen what turnout there'll be next Sunday and in November as well.

Tanzina: Dánica Coto is a correspondent for the AP covering the Caribbean. Dánica, thanks, as always.

Dánica: Thank you very much for having me.

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