Whatallows puerto citizens to petition the US for statehood?

Answer 1

The US Constitution says:

Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States…" -- U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 3, clause 2

The only restriction in the Constitution is that a new state cannot be formed from the territory of another state without that state's consent. But then there's West Virginia, but that's another story.

Essentially Congress can make the rules as they go along. The Constitution does not say that the rules have to be the same for everybody.

Typically the following conditions must be met for statehood:

--Population of the territory nust be 50,000 (not enforced when Nevada became a state)

--The people of the territory must vote to petition Congress for statehood. A simple majority is needed to be considered.

--The Territory must have a form of self government and adopt a state constitution (if it doesn't already have one)

Puerto Rico has met two of the three requirements, but the people have yet to vote (simple majority) to petition for statehood. The several plebiscites held over the last 50 years have all narrowly favored commonwealth status and in the last election "none of the above" narrowly (by just over 1%) beat out Statehood.

Answer 2

Yes. And they have on three separate occasions so far (1967, 1993 and 1998). Another two-step election on Statehood may be coming again on August 12 and November 6, 2012 depending on Legislative action by the Puerto Rico Congress.

To date each election has determined that most of the voters want some sort of territorial status or "none of the above" narrowly beating statehood most of the time. Independence is generally way behind in the results.

1967 60.4% Commonwealth - 40% statehood - 0.6% Independence

1993 48.6% Commonwealth - 46.3% Statehood - 4.4% Independence -0.2% Void - 0.4% Undervote

1998 50.3% "None of the Above" - 46.5% Statehood - 2.5% Independence - 0.3% Free Association - 0.1% Territorial Commonwealth -0.2% Void - 0.1% Undervote