Joe Henke: The referendum will appear as two questions. The first will ask voters if they want to change the island’s political status. The second will ask voters to pick one of three options: U.S. statehood, independence or “sovereign free association” — in which Puerto Rico would become an independent nation but have negotiated ties to the United States.

Dustin Volz: While demand for cheap labor keeps many Haitians employed in the Dominican Republic, increased immigration is placing unbearable strains on a country struggling to provide health care, education and social services to its own residents.

Joanne Ingram: While education in the Dominican Republic is mandatory and free for children ages 5 through 14, regardless of their immigration status, many children do not continue to ninth grade because they lack a Dominican birth certificate or other official documentation that proves they are citizens.

Bastien Inzaurralde and Brandon Quester: Hundreds of children roam the streets of Santo Domingo. Some are Dominican and some Haitian. Many are both. But few know how to legally prove their citizenship.

Nick Newman: The Dominican government accuses the Jesuit Refugee Service of being part of an international conspiracy to unify the island of Hispaniola.

Bastien Inzaurralde: Waterborne diseases — often the result of poor sanitation and lack of treated, drinkable water — that are a rarity elsewhere are common in Independencia, the poverty-stricken province where Batey 9 is located, near the border with Haiti.

Joshua Armstrong: As Haitian immigration increased, the Dominican government sought to retroactively deny citizenship rights to Dominicans of Haitian descent, touching off a number of legal battles.

Stephanie Snyder: Haitians without documentation are not permitted to travel more than about 100 yards into the Dominican Republic.

Lauren Gilger: Haitian women make up a large portion of the patients giving birth in Dominican hospitals. They come because they don’t have access to hospitals and health care in Haiti, especially after last year’s earthquake.

Serena Del Mundo: The Global Fund, the world’s leading financer of programs to fight AIDS, TB and malaria, gave the Dominican Republic almost $82 million over a seven-year period for HIV prevention and treatment efforts. But that funding is expected to drop dramatically in coming years.