From the Miami Herald:

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A majority of Puerto Ricans have opted for the first time to become the 51st U.S. state in what jubilant members of the pro-statehood party call a resounding sign that the island territory is on the road to losing its second-class status.

But Tuesday’s vote comes with an asterisk and an imposing political reality: The island remains bitterly divided over its relationship to the United States and many question the validity of this week’s referendum.

There’s also the fact that voters also ousted the pro-statehood governor, eliminating one of the main advocates for a cause that would need the eventual approval of the U.S. Congress.

“Statehood won a victory without precedent but it’s an artificial victory,” said Angel Israel Rivera Ortiz, a political science professor at the University of Puerto Rico. “It reflects a divided and confused electorate that is not clear on where it’s going.”

President Barack Obama had said he would support the will of the Puerto Rican people on the question of the island’s relationship to the U.S., referred to simply on the island as its “status,” and this week’s referendum was intended to be the barometer.

Politics aside, it’s long past time that Puerto Rico became a state.  The current status gives the people of the island the responsibilities — taxes, the draft — of U.S. citizenship — which they have had since 1917 — but lacking some key rights, including being able to vote in a presidential election unless they’re living on the mainland, and no vote in Congress.  In short, they’re a colony, and that’s a relic of imperialism that we should have abandoned a hundred years ago.

There will be some push-back from the Republicans, especially the knuckle-draggers who claim that the island should declare English the “official” language before admittance (when English becomes the “official” language here, we can consider it), that the majority of the population is poor and dependent on government services (hello, Mississippi), and that they will all be Democrats and add two more D’s to the Senate.  Given the GOP’s current standing with the Latino community, perhaps admitting Puerto Rico would go a long way to mending a fence or two.

By the way, if Puerto Rico becomes the 51st state, here’s what the new American flag could look like:

I like it.

Okay, folks, everyone on stage for the big Democracy number.

This is it.  If you haven’t already voted, get out there.  If you know people who need a ride or help getting to the polling place, do it.  If you have to work, tell your boss that you need to come in late or leave early.  (In fact, in a lot of states, it’s required for employers to grant their employees time off to vote without penalty.)  If you’re registered and you have the wherewithal to do it, then do it.  No excuses.

And for those of you who are of a mind that your vote doesn’t count, or they’re all crooks, or there’s no difference between candidates, or you’re not going to buy into the whole establishment trip of going through the motions of “democracy” when we all know that it’s really controlled by some secret organization that watches and manipulates our every move and it’s all futile and you want no part of it, vote anyway.  Piss off the mind controllers for once.

Democracy is messy.  It’s supposed to be.  It’s designed by people, run by people, and people are human, prone to error, ego, and limited vision at times.  That’s why we elect people to do things and help organize and make things work for all of us.  Sometimes they screw up.  Sometimes they’re in it just for themselves or those they want to impress.  But it eventually works out and most of the time for the better.  This experiment of America has been doing all right for the last 236 years or so, and we’re getting pretty good at it.  And every so often — every two years, as a matter of fact — you get a chance to actually do something about it.  And if it’s not exactly to your liking, then make it work.  It’s up to you.

Or, as TBogg explains:

Every year in Happy Gumdrop Fairy-Tale Land all of the sprites and elves and woodland creatures gather together to pick the Rainbow Sunshine Queen. Everyone is there: the Lollipop Guild, the Star-Twinkle Toddlers, the Sparkly Unicorns, the Cookie-Baking Apple-Cheeked Grandmothers, the Fluffy Bunny Bund, the Rumbly-Tumbly Pupperoos, the Snowflake Princesses, the Baby Duckies All-In-A-Row, the Laughing Babies, and the Dykes on Bikes. They have a big picnic with cupcakes and gumdrops and pudding pops, stopping only to cast their votes by throwing Magic Wishing Rocks into the Well of Laughter, Comity, and Good Intentions. Afterward they spend the rest of the night dancing and singing and waving glow sticks until dawn when they tumble sleepy-eyed into beds made of the purest and whitest goose down where they dream of angels and clouds of spun sugar.

You don’t live there.

Grow the fuck up.

Now get out there and vote.

If you don’t know by now, here’s a link to every state’s election information.

Today is the last day for early voting in Florida, so like I did four years ago, I’m going to go stand in line at the Coral Reef Library and wait my turn.  I’m pretty sure I won’t be the only one there; wait times at that site have been up to three hours, so I’m taking along a book (Stuart Pawson’s “The Judas Sheep” which I picked up last summer in Stratford).

I’ll give you a full report — plus pictures if I can — when I get back.

In case you missed this in all the coverage of the debate, the Supreme Court refused to hear Ohio’s appeal of a lower court decision to allow early voting to continue in the Buckeye State:

The Supreme Court delivered a victory to President Obama’s reelection campaign Tuesday, saying it would not set aside a lower court’s ruling that all Ohio voters be allowed to cast ballots in the three days before the Nov. 6 election.

The Obama campaign had sued the state over its decision to end early voting on the Friday before the election for all but members of the military. The campaign said the decision would disproportionately affect poor, elderly and low-income voters, who are most likely to take advantage of early voting.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit agreed. It said that if Ohio is going to open polls for military voters during the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the election, it must allow all voters to participate.

“While there is a compelling reason to provide more opportunities for military voters to cast their ballots, there is no corresponding satisfactory reason to prevent nonmilitary voters from casting their ballots as well,” the appeals court said.

Without comment, the Supreme Court turned down Ohio’s request to revisit the lower court ruling. There were no noted dissents to the decision.

The reason that the Ohio Republicans are against early voting is pretty simple.  They know that early voters tend to vote heavily for the Democrats, and as Greg Sargent notes, the Democrats are very well organized and braced to get out the vote.  This, by the way, is the reason why a lot of Republicans in states like Florida are doing everything they can to make voting — not just early voting — more difficult: if you can’t sell your candidates on their merits, at least prevent the opposition from voting at all.