‘More organized election next time’

“They should have a more organized election next time,” said one of the voters Saturday as a long line filled up one pathway in one of the polling places on Saipan.

Several voters who did not want to be identified said they were surprised that the Board of Election only divided the polling place into two batches, with voters’ last name starting from A to M and N to Z.

Garapan Elementary School was one of the 14 precincts to be designated as polling places during the polls. The GES polling place had the highest voters registration recorded in the CNMI, with 1,997 voters.

As early as 7am, voters were already lining up to vote. Before long, the line reached the end of another wing of the campus. Four to five voters were sent in almost every 15 minutes and those who came early began to complain of the long wait.

“The election last year was better,” one voter said. She said the Board of Election should have divided the voters in Garapan into at least four sections. “So slow. It should have been A to F, G to L, and so on,” she said.

The voter said it was a good decision for her and her family to come early to the precinct because she said the line would be longer in the afternoon for sure.

At 11:30am, Commonwealth Election Commission executive director Gregorio Sablan showed up with assistant attorney general James Livingstone at the GES polling place. Sablan immediately fixed the problem and, by 12:30pm, the long queue finally disappeared.

Voters’ pulse

Division of Environmental Quality officer Tina Sablan went to the school as early as 7:30am. She said the 2005 general election has been the most exciting election in the CNMI. She said all gubernatorial candidates were all competent.

Dorin Salas, a Public School System administrative officer, also agreed that the election was indeed a close fight among the candidates. Alex Palacios, a former Continental Airlines employee, said he only hopes that his bet would win the election.

Saipan Mayor’s Office administrative officer Tony Benavente, who helped in assisting voters in Precinct 2 at the Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council Office in Chalan Kanoa, said voters came in very early. “It’s a good turnout and it has been a very peaceful election,” Benavente said.

Victoria H. Antonio, a volunteer at the San Antonio Elementary School precinct 1A, agreed that the election this time had been very peaceful and showed impressive turnout.