CEC wants stay on bill allowing voting at any polling place on election day

The Commonwealth Election Commission wants the Senate to hold off on enacting Senate Bill 23-68 which essentially amends the CNMI voting laws to allow voters to cast their votes at any polling place on election day.

During a previous CEC board meeting, CEC executive director Kayla Igitol asked that the board submit comments on Senate Bill 23-68 which seeks to amend Commonwealth voting laws. Specifically, the bill would amend the law to allow voters to vote at any polling place on election day.

According to Igitol, it remains uncertain when the Senate aims to enact this legislation.

However, with general elections just around the corner, Igitol expressed that it could be challenge for CEC staff to accommodate a drastic change just a few months before.

The CEC board agreed that this would be a challenge and decided that they’d request the Senate to hold off on enacting this legislation (or at least make it so that this year’s election is exempted from the change) due to the close proximity of the upcoming general elections.

Last Aug. 12, Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) filed Senate Bill 23-68, which would allow registered voters to cast their votes at any polling precinct on election day.

In his bill, Manglona used Tinian voters as an example stating that Tinian voters who are on Saipan for medical treatment, government representation, or are accompanying a family member would have to return to Tinian to vote on election day.

“This requirement does not make any sense,” he said.

Currently, the law allows eligible voters to cast their ballot at any polling place during the early voting period if they cannot be physically present on election day.

The Senate bill aims to amend Commonwealth election law to allow any registered voter to vote at any polling place even on election day.