What You Need to Know About Puerto Rico’s Plebiscite
Puerto Rican resident Maria Quinones looks carefully at her ballot with a magnifying glass before voting during the fifth referendum on the island’s status, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, June 11, 2017. (AP/Carlos Giusti)
On June 11, millions of Puerto Ricans will head to the polls to decide the political status of the Caribbean island.
Sunday’s two-part plebiscite, the fifth held since 1967, will decide the future of the unincorporated U.S. territory. Since 1898, Puerto Rico has functioned as a “commonwealth” of the U.S., essentially making it a colony of Washington.
