Citizens cast their votes in colleges (Spanish: Escuelas) which are simply usually the nearest public school to where the voter declared as residence.
In both of these extraordinary cases, officials from the Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections will provide aid so that the citizens can cast their vote—either by using verbal or non-verbal communication—with members from the different political parties required to observe the process in order to ensure accuracy, fairness, transparency, order, and legitimacy.
In 2012 six parties participated, the same four as in 2008 and two new ones: Partido del Pueblo Trabajador (PPT), and Movimiento Union Soberanista (MUS).
Additionally, parties may choose the ballot order of its candidates in different districts, in an attempt to signal to voters the preferred method of voting.
As the electoral system is majoritarian (the largest party gets a windfall of seats, surplus to its vote share), the section 7 of Article III of the Puerto Rican constitution s:Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico allows for additional members to be added to either chamber to enhance the opposition party's representation.
When the majority party polls less than two-thirds of the vote for Governor of Puerto Rico, minority seats in the Senate or the House are distributed using a variant of the Hare quota largest remainder method according to the minority parties' share of the vote for governor, subject to a 3% threshold.
[3] A slightly different procedure is provided for in the event the majority party wins more than two-thirds of the vote for governor, which limits each minority party to a number of seats not in excess of its proportionate share of its vote for governor (excluding rounding differences).