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US Democratic Party Decides Course of Action on Disqualified Votes


Voters in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico are going to the polls Sunday to choose a Democratic nominee for president.

Because of the Caribbean island's status as a territory and not a state, Puerto Ricans may send delegates to the national Democratic nominating convention, where those delegates may cast votes for a Democratic nominee. But Puerto Rican citizens themselves may not vote in the general election in November.

Polls show Senator Hillary Clinton favored over front-runner Senator Barack Obama in the Puerto Rican contest. Voting ends in the afternoon local time, and results are expected soon afterward.

The final two Democratic primaries will be held in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday.

Democratic Party officials, meeting in Washington Saturday, reached an agreement aimed at resolving a dispute over primary election votes in the key states of Florida and Michigan. The party's rules committee decided to include delegates from the two states, but to give each delegate only half a vote.

The compromise allows Clinton to gain some ground in the party's presidential nominating contest against Obama but she remains some 200 delegates behind the Illinois senator.

The Democratic Party had fully disqualified the results from the Florida and Michigan primaries, after the two states defied party rules by holding their primaries earlier than allowed.

Senator Clinton won the primary elections in Florida and Michigan and wanted the results fully counted.

In Michigan, Obama's name was not on the ballot, and the Clinton campaign had urged the rules committee to award him no delegates from that state.

Clinton's representative at the rules committee meeting said she reserved her right to challenge its decision, which could continue the dispute until the party's nominating convention in August.

Obama resigned on Saturday his membership in a Chicago church in the aftermath of controversial remarks by the church's former pastor and more recent fiery remarks by another minister.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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