Bringing an island closer

On the Electoral College, New York City, and the two big things that might activate Puerto Ricans to remind the rest of the country that they are Americans, too

While other newspapers have abstained from offering endorsements in the Presidential election, one local newspaper has gone on record with a fiery editorial: El Nuevo Dia, widely regarded as the newspaper of record in Puerto Rico.

■ Puerto Rico occupies a complicated place in American consciousness: Its residents are citizens, but the territory has no vote in Congress, and consequently, no vote in the Electoral College. As a territory, claimed along with Guam at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, it is held awkwardly at arm's length: Spanish-speaking but legally American, taxed but unable to leave or upgrade to statehood without the blessing of Congress, well-represented in the US Armed Forces but entitled to its own Olympic team.

■ Citizenship means that Puerto Ricans are just as free to move about the country as Kansans, Californians, or Kentuckians. That, in turn, means that El Nuevo Dia's fury at a repugnant joke at a political rally echoes and amplifies a sentiment that is likely being felt in other places. New York City, for instance, is home to 574,000 Puerto Ricans -- effectively the same as the entire population of Wyoming.

■ With a non-binding referendum on Puerto Rico's status on the ballot there, the territory could make more news than usual for the rest of the country on Election Night. Considering the lingering consequences of Hurricane Maria on the island and the evident ways in which its legal status appears to hold the island back, it should come as no surprise if the people there decide to assert their status and demand full respect as Americans in a vigorous way.