Resident commissioner’s campaign gives no validity to mock election

The gubernatorial campaign of Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, at left, opted not to participate in a mock election held Sunday by radio station Notiuno and instead focus on the candidate’s “On the Street with Jenniffer” tour of island towns. (Comité Jenniffer González Colón)

By The Star Staff

Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón’s gubernatorial campaign opted not to participate in the mock election held Sunday by radio station Notiuno because it is not an actual primary election.

“We hold in high regard the right of the people who want to participate in these media events that unrealistically aim to simulate a primary election,” Francisco Domenech, González Colón’s campaign director, said about the mock election. “However, our campaign does not validate, nor will it participate in them, since they are as accurate as the manipulable polls carried out on social media.”

He added that it is impossible to replicate the true electoral experience of an event that on June 2 will encompass 2,206 voting stations at the island level, along with early voting from more than 78,000 applications.

“To attempt a ‘simulation’ with only eight voting centers, no polling station officials, and a limited number of ballots, among other significant differences, would not accurately reflect the scale and complexity of the actual election,” Domenech said.

Notiuno has been announcing the event for several weeks. Secretary of State Omar Marrero Díaz participated on Sunday. At press time, the STAR did not have results.

Domenech added that one of the mock elections carried out in 2020 for the general election, in which only 30,581 people participated, saw Alexandra Lúgaro, Charlie Delgado and Juan Dalmau all beat Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia, who went on to be elected governor.

“We know that on Election Day, the true results issued by the voters demonstrated the opposite,” Domenech said. “In the June 2 primary, we know that for Puerto Rico to win, the people will vote massively in favor of Jenniffer González becoming the next governor of our island.”

Ángel Cintrón, the González Colón campaign’s political director, said that on Sunday, the efforts of the campaign would focus on the training of polling place officials, continuing with the “On the Street with Jenniffer” meetings in the towns of Villalba, Santa Isabel, Juana Díaz and Coamo, and mobilizing voters to go out and vote for González Colón in the New Progressive Party primaries.