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AD still ahead in absentee vote count
CEC completes counting of absentee votes, but board has yet to certify results
Commonwealth Election Commission board chair Jesus I. Sablan supervises the sorting by precincts of the remaining absentee votes for the Nov. 25 gubernatorial election as deputy attorney general Lillian A. Tenorio observes the commissioners doing the process at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe Friday night. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)
The Commonwealth Election Commission panel of tabulators counted Friday night the remaining absentee ballots for the gubernatorial runoff race, in which 258 votes went to Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and his running mate, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, of the unified independent team, and 200 were for Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and his running mate, Sen. Vinnie Vinson F. Sablan (R-Saipan), of the Republican Party.
The CEC board, however, did not certify the runoff election results Friday due to some challenged absentee votes, according to CEC executive director Kayla S. Igitol over the weekend.
Once the challenged votes are resolved, Igitol said, the board will then certify the results, which may take place probably this week.
She explained yesterday that a total of 78 absentee votes have been challenged and set aside for now.
With the counting of the remaining absentees votes Friday, Palacios-Apatang garnered a total of 7,335 votes, or 54.12% of the total votes, while Torres-Sablan received a total of 6,217 votes, or 45.87%.
During the counting of runoff votes last Nov. 26, Palacios-Apatang enjoyed a commanding 1,060 votes, prompting Torres-Sablan to concede their defeat.
The CEC unofficial tabulation results at that time, Nov. 26, showed that Torres-Sablan got 140 absentee votes, while Palacios-Apatang obtained 138.
After the counting of the remaining absentee votes, Palacios-Apatang took the lead in the absentee voting as they garnered a total of 396 votes, while Torres-Sablan got a total of 340 votes.
At 11am Friday, CEC staff, accompanied by some police officers and Office of the Public Auditor representatives, picked up the remaining 859 envelopes containing absentee ballots from the U.S. Postal Service in Chalan Kanoa, and brought them to the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center for tabulations. Some envelopes contained two or more votes.
The group went back to the postal service Friday at about 3:30pm, but there were no more absentee envelopes that came in.
In total, 458 remaining votes were counted Friday as some ballots were not postmarked, while others were postmarked after the Nov. 25 deadline.
As of 5:10pm Friday, commissioners led by board chair Jesus I. Sablan were still sorting the ballots by precincts. The commissioners, who served as the panel of tabulators, completed the counting at 7pm. Deputy attorney general Lillian A. Tenorio and a representative from OPA watched the process.
When asked about her overall assessment of the runoff election, Igitol said yesterday that it went well besides the campaigning within the 300 feet from polling sites.
“I believe my staff, CEC board did an awesome job and we conducted a fair, honest, and transparent election,” Igitol said.
