Territory suffrage amendment

This is a fantastic debate topic. I love the subject of US territories, and hope this will be a very good debate. My opponent presents an interesting idea - the idea that a constitutional amendment should territories with a permanent population of over 1,000,000 people should be entitled to the same constitutional representation as states. As Con, I will argue that the amendment actually circumvents the typical process of admission into the union, could oppose the will of the populace, and is constitutionally unneeded.To begin with, I assume this amendment is designed almost specifically for Puerto Rico. No other territory has a population of even 160,000 citizens, and it is hard to imagine any of them will in the near future. Out of the nearly 4.1 million people living in a US territory, only around 350,000 don't live in Puerto Rico, so the bill would have no effect on them or their status under the Constitution. Why do these people not deserve representation? Are they less important than the Puerto Ricans?Now, the cause of Puerto Rican statehood is one that I wholeheartedly endorse - I believe the 3.7 million inhabitants of Puerto Rico should certainly be entitled to representation in Congress, if they so desire. The issue, however, is just that - do Puerto Ricans, or inhabitants of any other territory, desire it? Out of five referendums about statehood, all but the most recent one rejected it. In the most recent one, 61.2% of voters (824,195 voters) supported statehood... Or did they? The official results only count those who voted on that issue; if you include the 480,918 voters who left the section blank in the official result, the '61.2%' drops down to only 44.6% - still well above the other options, but not a majority.[1] Politicians from both parties criticized the ballot's two-stage nature, and, even more confusingly, Puerto Ricans elected an anti-statehood governor in the same election that they supported statehood.[2] Clearly, the issue of statehood is not settled in Puerto Rico. Forcing a path that many Puerto Ricans opposed might result in a similar situation to what Canada faces with Quebec - a culture deeply split on staying in the union, and one that is so far removed from the rest of the country as to be different entirely.Now, this bill also completely demolishes previous Constitutional precent. The Constitution only grants Congressional voting to states, because territories are considered a mid-way process to statehood. Only states are given representation in Congress, as the title of our country suggests. To remedy these issues I will propose my own amendment - the Territorial Rights Amendment.Section 1. The federal district and all permanently populated territories of the United States shall, if majority support is given in a binding referendum, be entitled to elect a Representative to Congress; each territory shall be granted one representative.Section 2. The federal district and all permanently populated territories of the United State shall, if majority support is given in a binding referendum, be entitled to election two Senators to Congress; the two Senators shall be elected by a cumulative vote from all participating bodies.Section 3. All permanently populated territories of the United State that have chosen to elect representatives to Congress shall participate in Presidential elections. The territories will be entitled to electoral votes as follows:*Two electoral votes awarded through a cumulative vote from all territories, in the same manner as the territorial Senate elections are to be conducted.*One electoral vote for each individual territory.Section 4. If any participating territory or the federal district becomes a state, their participation in federal election will immediately become as a state, not a territory or federal district.Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.This amendment is superior in several ways - for one, it allows each territory to decide whether or not they want a federal vote. Second, it gives all territories, in addition to Washington, D.C., equal status. Third, the bill does not circumvent the Constitutional provisions for acceptance as a state.Thank you, and I eagerly await my opponent's arguments. References:1. http://en.wikipedia.org...2. http://en.wikipedia.org...