Story highlights The Puerto Rican population in Florida has exploded in recent years

Puerto Ricans arrive as citizens because of the island's status as a US territory

Kissimmee, Florida (CNN) The presidential election could come down to Florida's rapidly growing population of residents from Puerto Rico, a reality that has set off a political gold rush in the Sunshine State.

The Puerto Rican population in Florida has exploded in recent years as a result of the island's bankruptcy crisis, which has wreaked havoc on the territory's economy. More than a million Puerto Ricans now live in Florida, a number that now rivals the state's Cuban population, a group that has long dominated Latino political power in the state. A majority of recent new residents are resettling in the counties along the "I-4 corridor," named after a major highway stretching across a swath of Central Florida, which is known as a crucial swing region for elections.

This new batch of potentially undecided voters has sparked an aggressive effort on both sides of the political aisle to register them to vote and make a good impression.

"Central Florida is a key region of this swing state. And there's a swing vote in this swing region in this swing state, and that's the Latino vote. Specifically, it's the Puerto Ricans," said Esteban Garces, the Florida state director of Mi Familia Vota, a progressive advocacy group that aims to register more than 30,000 Latino voters in the state before Election Day. "They're going to decide really who the next president is."

Unlike foreign immigrants, Puerto Ricans arrive as citizens because of the island's status as a US territory. As residents of the island, they can't vote in the general election, but once they relocate to a US state, it's easy to establish residency and become registered to vote.

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