According to what @TheJusticeDept has told me in the past, DOJ wants to work on a real plebiscite BUT they do not like it when PR gov't makes decisions about a new non-binding vote without DOJ input before. This is 2017 all over again. It didn't work back then and it won't now.
FYI, I emailed my contact at @WhiteHouse to confirm if @wandavazquezg has been talking with WH about a non-binding plebiscite for November. If I hear back from WH, I will share. 
BTW, this is the SAME thing that happened in 2012, when a non-binding plebiscite was called for on election day. The pro-statehood PNP thought it would being it out more voters for pro-statehood gov Luis Fortuño. Fortuño lost that election.
Still it is important to note that the ONLY DEFINITIVE take from the 2012 vote is that current ELA structure is highly unpopular and colonial. However, ever since then, pro-statehood leaders have failed to really capitalize on that bc they keep excluding other voices.
You really need to know that this current pro-statehood leadership is very right-wing and Republican, so they have excluded progressive and moderate Dem statehood voices here. Plus, this notion of announcing this with no input from other parties is typical of PNP.
It just opens the door (yet again) for non-statehood voters to boycott the plebiscite and then the results won't mean anything anyway. 2012 election was a good example of this. Pro-statehood incumbent gov still lost to pro-commonwealth candidate. 2012 plebiscite went nowhere.
So in essence, 8 years later, NOTHING HAS CHANGED when it comes to PR and status. Could argue that nothing has changed since first series of plebiscites occurred from the late 60s to the 90s.
It is this constant political status hamster wheel that gets exploited by local parties (mostly the pro-statehood one) and leads to no impact at all on (wait for it) ACTUALLY RESOLVING PUERTO RICO'S COLONIAL STATUS.
In the end, this is all about benefiting these political parties' existence and nothing else. This is a big part of why so many Puerto Ricans can't stand politicians any more. This is exhausting. It's the same charade over and over and over again.
And our colonial minds can't shake it. We can't get past it. We HAVE to get past it. Something different has to happen.
Got an update from @WhiteHouse. WH will be replying to my request soon about the claim that @wandavazquezg has been talking with the WH about this upcoming November 3 non-binding plebiscite.
