Puerto Rico favors statehood? Not quite

When it comes to the statehood of Puerto Rico and their part in American elections, it can get rather confusing.

Though Puerto Rico is not an official state, some of the territory's residents want it to be.

On Tuesday night , Puerto Rican citizenswere asked to vote on two questions on a ballot referendum.

Number one. Do you favor your current status as a U.S. Commonwealth.

About 54 percent of voters said No.

Those who voted no, got to answer a second question asking which alternative they preferred: Statehood, Sovereign free association or independence.

On this question, 61 percent of voters wanted statehood. Some have interpreted this to be the first time a majority of Puerto Ricans said yes to officially joining the United States.

However, this is not actually the case according to UCLA Professor of sociology Cesar Ayala.

"The way the questions were set up produce a very misleading result and that in fact there is no majority vote for statehood in Puerto Rico.

Remember that first question asking if residents favored the commonwealth? Well those that said YES to keep the status quo, did not answer the second question by leaving it blank.

"The way they are producing this majority vote for statehood is not counting the second ballot."

So, actually, only 33 percent of voters wanted statehood.

So, is a 51st state in our future? Not quite yet. For now, Puerto Rico is still an unincorporated territory of the United States.

This is Denise Guerra, Annenberg Radio News