Global Initiative to Enfranchise People with Disabilities: Puerto Rico - www.electionaccess.org Text Only Version
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Puerto Rico

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."

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Electoral Law:
(1977, updated 1984)
• Ch. 303, section 3055 states: "Persons judicially declared unqualified shall not be entitled to vote, even though they are duly qualified electors."

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 by Other Citizens
Electoral Law:
(1977, updated 1984)
• Ch. 309, 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."


 
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