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Electoral authorities canceled the primaries as they could not distribute the ballots on time.
The New Progressive Party (PNP) pre-candidate for governor Pedro Pierluisi Sunday presented a legal action asking Puerto Rico's Supreme Court for the electoral process to continue.
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The State Election Commission (CEE) canceled the primaries after the agency could not distribute the ballots to the polling stations on time.
Without consulting their own pre-candidates, the PNP President Thomas Rivera Thomas Rivera and the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) President Anibal Jose Torres asked the electoral authorities to stop the elections.
In his legal action, Pierluisi emphasizes that the suspension of either the vote count or the transmission of electoral results is "an illegal and undemocratic act" whose consequences the Supreme Court must review without delay.
Puerto Rico is witnessing the total breakdown of its electoral system on the day of local party primaries.
— Andresito (@ConioMeng) August 9, 2020
In the video below, poll workers stage a walkout in the town of Salinas. At the time of recording, primary ballots still hadn't been delivered to this poll site. https://t.co/E1RGypxQ1Q
This is the first time that the primaries have been halted in Puerto Rico, which could diminish public confidence in the government and alter the results of the November general elections.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico dismissed the accusations that the electoral commission did not have enough funding and said it approved all of its funding requests.
"The disruptions... result from an inefficient organization at an agency that only two weeks ago struggled to buy the printing of ballots for an election that was originally supposed to take place on June 7," the Board said.
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