Federal appeals court hears arguments in Puerto Rico vote case

BOSTON - Puerto Ricans will be able to vote in presidential elections only if the territory votes to become a state or the U.S. Constitution is amended, a government lawyer argued in court Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Matthew Collette is representing the Clinton administration in its appeal of a lower court ruling that declared voters in Puerto Rico - 2.3 million of them - have the right to mark ballots in the general election.

Congress gave Puerto Rican residents U.S. citizenship in 1917, but statehood has not won islanders' approval. Island residents can already vote in presidential primaries.

But Collette told a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the Constitution only allows states to send electors to the Electoral College, which picks the president. Puerto Rico would have eight electors who could decisively affect voting next month in what is seen by some as the closest presidential race in 40 years.

''While we understand the frustration, we understand the dissatisfaction, the Constitution is clear as it stands,'' Collette said.

Eleven Puerto Ricans, including Gregoria Igartua who is also the lawyer representing the group, are supported in their bid for presidential voting rights by Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello and Solicitor General Gustavo Gelpi, who has formally joined the suit.

''My government, the government of the United States, has discriminated for over 100 years against the plaintiff, myself, and residents of Puerto Rico by denying our right to vote in presidential elections, to have government by consent,'' Igartua said.

The only residents of a non-state area who can vote for president live in the District of Columbia. They were given that right by the 23rd amendment in 1961.

The appeals court did not indicated when it would rule on the case.

After the hearing, Rossello pledged to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

''We will go to whatever forum we have to,'' he said. ''This is not an issue about Puerto Ricans. This is an issue about U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico.''