I am enfranchised. Meaning, I can vote as a U.S. citizen, despite being, currently, a resident of South Korea. But here's something interesting: if I were living in Puerto Rico, instead of South Korea, I would lose my franchise – despite the fact that Puerto Rico is part of the U.S., while South Korea clearly isn't. Why in the world is this the case?
I mean… I know why it's the case – it's because of Puerto Rico's "special relationship" with the U.S. (i.e. the fact that basically it's a colony). But all the same, there's more than a little bit of irony in the fact that by adding Puerto Rican residency to an otherwise enfranchised U.S. citizen causes that citizen to forfeit his or her franchise. It's like the federal government grants the status of convicted felons, gratis, to the whole island. Weird.