Let's Listen to the Voters of Puerto Rico

(También disponible en español.)

While the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is coming to a close, it is important that we not end it before all the voters have a chance to be heard. It has been a tough battle, but the race has also produced some great benefits for the Democratic Party. The 2008 primaries and caucuses have brought new activists into politics, increased our party's ability to raise money and laid a solid foundation for success in the fall.

Whether Hillary Clinton, AFSCME's choice, or Barack Obama is the candidate come November, a vibrant and re-energized Democratic Party will be united against John McCain and his promises of a third Bush term and 100 more years in Iraq.

As I have traveled around the country during the last few months, I have seen the excitement the presidential campaign has generated among Americans who have a sense that our government no longer works for them. They are excited to have a chance to participate in primaries and caucuses, and to elect a President who will be on their side.
In every state where Senators Clinton and Obama have battled it out at the polls, Democratic registration is up significantly, a positive sign that turnout in November could reach historic proportions.

Democratic voters are ready and when the primary season ends, we will have a strong candidate for the general election. Just as importantly, we will have a strong base of activists to turn out the vote and then turn our country around.

Nowhere is that more true than in Puerto Rico, where Democrats will vote on June 1. Although Puerto Rico has no Electoral College votes, Puerto Ricans are American citizens. They pay taxes. Today, their sons and daughters are serving and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. Puerto Rico has 55 delegates and 8 super delegates who will vote at the Democratic Convention, more delegates than 21 of the states.

Puerto Rico deserves to be heard in the Democratic race for President. As the chair of Barack Obama's campaign in Puerto Rico put it this week: "As a Puerto Rican I know this is our chance to engage the candidates on issues that matter to our island." On issues ranging from health care to the economy, the voters of Puerto Rico want to be heard.

AFSCME's affiliate in Puerto Rico, Servidores Públicos Unidos recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of winning their right to collectively bargain for better working conditions and benefits. After a long, hard fight in the largest organizing drive in America, the public service workers of Puerto Rico are now organized – 120,000 workers strong. Those unionized workers want to be heard not only in the workplace, but also at the ballot box. The Puerto Rico primary gives them that chance to be heard.

The campaign season will be coming to an end shortly, yet some pundits want it to end right now. That would deny the voters in Puerto Rico their chance to have a say. At every step in this long primary process, whenever the experts said the race was over, the voters proved them wrong. The voters have been electrified by the campaign. More than a million voters in Puerto Rico deserve a chance to have their voices heard. They deserve a chance to vote before this historic nomination battle is prematurely called to an end.