Puerto Rico's historic primaries marred by lack of ballots

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s historic primaries were marred early Sunday by a lack of voting materials in a majority of centers across the U.S. territory that forced frustrated voters who braved a spike in COVID-19 cases to turn around and go back home.

The situation infuriated voters and politicians alike as they blamed Puerto Rico’s election commission.

“This is crass incompetence,” said Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, a former governor who is running to represent Puerto Rico in Congress.

The election commission announced it would keep all affected voting centers open later than scheduled to guarantee a full eight hours of access as required. But many who stood in lines on Sunday morning were elderly people not expected to return to voting centers once they opened.

Gireliz Zambrana, a 31-year-old federal employee who stood in line at a center in the north coastal town of Río Grande, said half of the roughly 20 people waiting left upon learning the center would not open on time and said they would not come back.

He said he would stay in line as long as needed because Puerto Rico’s situation had to change. The island is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria and a series of strong earthquakes amid a pandemic and a 13-year economic recession.

“We need help,” he said. “Puerto Rico can’t take it anymore.”

One of the most closely watched races on Sunday is that of the pro-statehood Progressive New Party, which pits two candidates who served as replacement governors following last year’s political turmoil. Gov. Wanda Vázquez faces Pedro Pierluisi, who represented Puerto Rico in Congress from 2009 to 2017. Pierluisi briefly served as governor after Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned in August 2019 following widespread street protests...