By The Star Staff
Rep. José “Conny” Varela Fernández filed legislation Monday that would allow the State Election Commission (SEC) to cancel the presidential primaries if a candidate has already obtained the required delegates to secure his nomination 30 days before the date set for the primaries.
In 2020, on the date set for Puerto Rico’s presidential primaries, the presidential candidates had already secured enough delegates to guarantee their respective nominations. Despite this, it was necessary to use SEC resources to hold the primaries in Puerto Rico, since the law did not provide a cancellation mechanism. The current Electoral Code does not address the situation, but House Bill 2008 would avoid that situation, said Varela, who is the deputy speaker of the island House of Representatives.
“The Puerto Rico Department of State has already announced who the candidates for the presidential primaries on the island would be,” Varela said. “The primaries will be held on April 28, 2024. Of those candidates, Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Marianne Williamson have already left their campaigns. There is still the so-called ‘Super Tuesday’ on March 5, after which more than 50% of the available convention delegates will have been elected. Given these circumstances, it is highly probable that both presidential primaries will become irrelevant.”
“With this bill, we create the opportunity so that the scarce resources of the SEC are not wasted on an unnecessary process,” the veteran lawmaker said. “At the same time, we establish the possibility for national parties to use an alternative method to select their delegates, an alternative that the law does not provide at this time.”
“The text of the amendment that we propose today has already been evaluated and agreed upon by all parties while evaluating amendments to the Electoral Code,” added Varela, whose House district covers Caguas. “Therefore, to ensure that we do not waste the limited funds of the SEC, we invite colleagues from all delegations to support and approve this bill, and the governor to convert it into law as soon as possible.”
Los partidos demócratas y republicanos están llenos de radicales de izquierda y RINOs que no quieren perder el control sobre quienes serán los candidatos a la presidencia. Las primarias en los 50 estados y en PR tienen que celebrarse TODAS el mismo día y así todos los estados y territorios que votan pueden ser parte de la selección de los candidatos de ambos partidos.