No major hiccups on election day

The Commonwealth Election Commission says no major hiccups were faced during election day yesterday.

As of 11am yesterday morning, CEC executive director Kayla Igitol said aside from all polling places opening on time, no major issues were faced at any of the polling places.

“This morning, all polls opened on time and that went smoothly. There were no delays. I did a site visit to Precinct 5 and everything was running smoothly,” she said.

One of the major changes made this election compared to the last, Igitol said, is that the CEC board has agreed to start tabulating early voting ballots while staff reconcile precinct ballots.

“The board formulated themselves into a tabulation committee voted in favor of tabulating early voting ballots as soon as the first precinct comes in with their ballots. Then, while [staff] are reconciling, hopefully early voting ballots will be done and after that, we can start putting the ballots for the first precinct that’s ready into the tabulation machine,” she said.

Igitol also discussed early voting and officially, 5,960 early voters came out throughout the whole seven-day period. The number includes early voters from all three islands.

“Early voting was a success; it went smoothly on all three islands. We had 5,960 voters during the seven days early voting period. This is a combination of all three islands,” she said.

Meanwhile, Igitol shared that the weather has been cooperative with the U.S. Coast Guard able to transport a CEC representative and representative from the Office of the Public Auditor to the Northern Islands in time for elections.

“On Nov. 3, the U.S. Coast Guard came and was able to transport our CEC representative down to Northern Islands. They should be arriving today,” she said.

Lastly, Igitol expressed her excitement of finally having a full committee in time for elections.

“We have a full team; we have eight members and I’m so happy. The only vacancy right now is for Saipan. This is the first time, since I’ve been employed with CEC, that we have had eight members on the commission. We usually have five or seven but never more,” she said.

In related news, Saipan Tribune interviewed poll workers at the Precinct 3 area located at Garapan Elementary School who confirmed that elections went smoothly with no major issues.

“However, it was slow. We had an hour where the number of voters coming in spiked, but after that, it was slow and smooth sailing,” the poll worker stated.

Saipan Tribune also managed to interview Precinct 3 voters Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and independent delegate candidate John Oliver Bolis Gonzales who shared that the experience was good.

“Along with thousands of other CNMI residents across the Commonwealth, I cast my vote with a deep sense of pride and civic responsibility today. Voting is one of the ways that citizens across our islands can have a meaningful say in the future of our islands, and I am thankful for those who took the time to vote either today or earlier during the early voting period or through filling absentee ballots. I also thank and commend the hard working and dedicated staff of the Commonwealth Election Commission, public safety personnel, and other public servants and volunteers for ensuring a smooth, safe, and orderly election day,” Palacios said.

“Voting today was so special and such a solemn act to cap this almost one year of clean, respectful, and tactful campaign. Independent, no special interest, just the interest of our people. I am excited, I am immensely grateful and profoundly thankful. I can’t wait for a new dawning for the CNMI where we can reboot, refresh, renew collectively in solidarity to fix what truly is dysfunctional in our community,” said Gonzales.