General Right to Vote
Constitution
(1952)

• Article II, section 2 states: "The laws shall guarantee the expression of the will of the people by means of equal, direct and secret universal suffrage and shall protect the citizen against any coercion in the exercise of the electoral franchise."

Electoral Law
(1977, last amended 2008)

• Title 16, section 3053 states, “Any citizen of the United States of America and of Puerto Rico, domiciled on the Island, who has attained the age of eighteen (18) years on the date of an election, is duly qualified prior to the same, and is not legally barred from voting, shall be an elector in Puerto Rico.”

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Electoral Law
(1977, updated 1984)

• Title 16, Section 3055 states, “Persons judicially declared unqualified shall not be entitled to vote, even though they are duly qualified electors.”
• Title 16, section 3076 states, “Each month the Courts Administrator shall send to the Commonwealth Commission a list of the persons who are declared judicially as mentally incompetent.”
• Title 16, section 3151 states, “Candidates may withdraw their nomination through a sworn statement to be filed with the Commission no later than ninety (90) days before the date the election is to be held.”

Exclusion Based on Physical Disability
Constitution
(1952)

• Article III, section 5 states, "No person shall be a member of the Legislative Assembly unless he is able to read and write the Spanish or English language and unless he is a citizen of the United States and of Puerto Rico and has resided in Puerto Rico at least two years immediately prior to the date of his election or appointment..."

Voter Assistance
Electoral Law
(1977, last amended 2008)

• Title 16, section 3214 states, “...The Commission may also establish polling places in private premises and also in establishments for the care of the aged or for victims of chronic diseases, according to regulations adopted by the Commission to such effects, and compensation may be paid for the use of these private premises where these special polling places are located.”
• Title 16, section 3216 states, “Each booth shall have an adequate shelf or counter, as provided by regulations, to write upon. The booths shall be placed in such a way that the poll officials can prevent the entry of more than one person in any of them at the same time. This shall not apply to physically disabled persons, for whom the Commission shall provide, by regulations, the appropriate measures.”
• Title 16, section 3229 states, “There may be only one person in a voting booth at a time, except as provided by law or by regulations for physically-disabled persons, and the voter may remain in the booth for the time he may reasonably need to cast his vote.”
• Title 16, section 3233 states, “Any voter who is unable to mark his ballots due to blindness, impossibility to use both of his hands or for any other physical impediment shall have the right to choose a person, whether he be a polling place official or not, who, while safeguarding the secrecy of the vote, shall mark the ballots as instructed by the voter.”

• Constitution - http://www.topuertorico.org/constitu.shtml
• Electoral law - The above provisions are drawn from the Westlaw database, but the Puerto Rican electoral law can also be accessed (in Spanish) from http://aceproject.org/ero-en/regions/americas/puerto-rico/Ley%20Electoral%20Puerto%20Rico%20%282000%29.pdf/view