The National Puerto Rican Equality Coalition (NAPREC), which has offices in Orlando and Washington, D.C., has expanded its free, bilingual civic hub ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The site gives the 9.3 million Puerto Ricans on the island and across the states, and any American, one place to check their voter registration, learn about the federal decisions that shape Puerto Rico and take that knowledge directly to Congress.
At the center of the project is a question many Americans never consider. A Puerto Rican who moves from San Juan to Orlando can vote for president as soon as they register. One who moves back to the island loses that right. Same citizen, same passport, same flag.
That gap shapes life for the 3.2 million U.S. citizens who live in Puerto Rico, a population larger than that of 18 states. Puerto Ricans have been citizens since 1917 and have served in every major American conflict since World War I. Yet in the 128 years since the island came under U.S. control in 1898, they have been unable to vote for president, have had no senators and are represented in Congress by a single member who cannot vote on final passage of legislation. NAPREC stresses that Puerto Rico's questions are national questions, since decisions made in Washington about the island shape disaster aid, Medicaid, nutrition assistance, Jones Act costs and the reach of the Constitution itself.
The hub's voter section links to official registration lookups for all 50 states, D.C. and five territories, along with Vote.gov, the Federal Voting Assistance Program for troops and overseas voters, and Puerto Rico's eRE service. Built-in Contact Congress tools, including Democracy.io, Legisletter, Resistbot, a sample letter and the Capitol switchboard, let anyone write to their senators and representative in minutes.
For those who want to go deeper, the site offers a plain-language guide to seven Puerto Rico proposals in the 119th Congress, a NAP-to-SNAP legislative tracker on nutrition assistance and a map of the congressional committees with jurisdiction. Twenty bilingual issue briefs cover topics from representation, status and the Insular Cases to veterans, Medicaid, energy, disaster recovery, taxes and PROMESA, and each one separates documented fact from NAPREC's own position. A polling archive of 21 documented sources reaches back to 1962.
For Dennis O. Freytes, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, member of the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame and NAPREC spokesperson, the project is personal. His father, Celio Freytes Menéndez, served with the 65th Infantry Regiment, the Borinqueneers later honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, in World War II and Korea, but never had a vote for the commander in chief who sent him to war.
“My father wore this nation’s uniform in two wars and asked me to keep fighting for the democratic rights he never had,” Freytes said. “The Federal Government should be the servant of all the people, not the master of some.”
Freytes noted that in 1513 Juan Ponce de León sailed from Puerto Rico to Florida, 107 years before the Pilgrims, and that Puerto Ricans later supported the cause of the American Revolution. “Now every citizen, on the island or in the states, can check their registration, read the record and take nonpartisan civic action to hold our federal government accountable,” he said. “It is time to end the federal suppression of Puerto Rico’s democratic rights.”
The effort carries particular weight in Florida. About 6.1 million Puerto Ricans live in the states, according to the Pew Research Center, including 1.3 million in Florida, 995,000 in New York and 494,000 in Pennsylvania. In Florida, early in-person voting runs Oct. 24 to 31 statewide, starting as early as Oct. 19 in many counties, and Oct. 22 is the deadline to request a mail ballot, according to state election offices.
Puerto Rico's political future remains unsettled. In a nonbinding plebiscite on Nov. 5, 2024, statehood received 58.6% of the votes cast for a status option, followed by free association at 29.6% and independence at 11.8%. NAPREC advocates statehood, but says it built the hub so that anyone can examine the same record and reach their own conclusions.
“Your vote is your voice, tu voto es tu voz,” the coalition said. “Every Puerto Rican and Latino who votes in the states speaks not only for their own family, but for 3.2 million fellow citizens on the island who cannot cast a ballot for president.”
NAPREC invites Puerto Ricans on the island and in the states, and every citizen who believes in equal rights, to visit its free bilingual civic hub, check their registration, make a plan to vote and make their voice heard in Washington.