Opinion ID: 203513
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: PPR's Registration Leading to This Federal Court Complaint

Text: Beginning in January 2005, and continuing after the decision of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court was issued in December 2006, PPR sought its own registration as a party by petition. Although 97,000 signatures were required to register, PPR ultimately was forced to gather 113,000 signatures because 16,000 of its signatures were disqualified. PPR alleges that these 16,000 signatures were improperly voided by the Commission. The Commission voided most of the signatures for two articulated reasons. It said 6,700 signatures were invalid because the same signatories had previously endorsed the PIP. It also said 6,500 signatures were incompatible with the signatures in the official records of the Commission. PPR alleges the Commission denied its request for access to the documents necessary to evaluate these determinations. [6] PPR eventually became certified in May 2007. PPR alleges that it would have been certified sometime in late 2006 if not for the Commission's actions. On September 13, 2007, PPR learned for the first time that the Commission Secretary's office had granted physical custody of the PIP petitions, including those with the challenged signatures, to the PIP. This action by the Commission, PPR contends, violated the law and impeded its ability to compare at least the 16,000 PIP signatures against the master list. It also was in contrast to the Commission's refusal to give the PPR access to signatures.