Puerto Rico’s 1998 ‘none of the above’ vote won 50.2 percent

Evidence

In fact, we don’t have to reach very far at all to find a blank-out campaign in our world. In 1998, Puerto Rican voters were faced with a referendum about the status of the island. They were given a choice between statehood, independence, free association, commonwealth, or none of the above. A heated debate arose over the definitions of the terms. The definition of commonwealth, in particular, raised some concerns. So a campaign was launched to vote “none of the above.” That vote signaled a refusal to accept the given options; it was a political act to not play the game as scripted. “None of the above” won 50.2 percent of the vote. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 614

Categorization

• QUESTION: What were the concrete consequences of Puerto Rico’s ‘none of the above’ victory, and did anyone pay an institutional price? Useful for judging whether Glaude’s proposal has real-world teeth.
• XREF: connects to: Puerto Rico remains a constitutional limbo neither state nor colony — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3754