Are Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens? Voting rights and passports for residents from territories

The United States presently holds jurisdiction over more than 14 territories and commonwealths, five of them permanently inhabited: American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Those who live in the inhabited territories are U.S. citizens who pay some federal taxes. They hold United States passports and can travel feely within the U.S. However, these residents do not have equal status to those of U.S. citizens in the 50 states.

For example, they do not have the same eligibility for the Supplemental Security Program and other federal benefits that Americans living in the 50 states do.

Can people from Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other US territories vote in presidential elections?

Aside from being ineligible for some federal benefits, those who live in these areas also do not have the same say in how the government is run.

Residents in the territories and commonwealths cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections. They do hold presidential primaries based on party rules, but since they are not represented in the Electoral College, their votes for federal offices are seen as merely symbolic.

The territories each elect a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, but these officials do not have voting powers. The territories are not represented in the Senate either.

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However, if citizens in these territories have official residency in a U.S. state or the District of Columbia, they can travel to their state of domicile or vote by absentee ballot.

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act permits former residents of the 50 states who are now living in a U.S. territory or commonwealth, to cast absentee ballots in presidential elections.