‘There should be straw poll in CNMI for US President, VP’
Senate President Edith E. DeLeon Guerrero (D-Saipan) believes all American citizens, including CNMI voters, should have the right to vote for the U.S. President that will govern them.
DeLeon Guerrero introduced last Monday during a Senate session a bill to authorize a straw poll or vote for U.S. President and Vice President during the the CNMI general elections.
CNMI residents who are U.S. citizens are not allowed to vote for U.S. President and Vice President. This anomaly, DeLeon Guerrero said, means CNMI residents have no say as to who governs the country.
She noted that, although CNMI voters participate in Democratic and Republican presidential primary or caucus events, the U.S. Electoral College system does not provide for electors from the U.S. territories (CNMI, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, and the U.S. minor outlying islands) to vote for President and Vice President.
Despite this inability to cast an official vote for President and Vice President, DeLeon Guerrero said it is important for CNMI voters to exercise their right to vote by choosing their candidate for President and Vice President on a CNMI election ballot.
As U.S. citizens, she said, CNMI voters’ choice for President and Vice President should be recorded and shared with the U.S. Congress.
She cited that Guam’s electoral commission is mandated under a 1979 law to hold a presidential vote, and later count its ballots and present the non-binding results to the U.S. Congress. She said the presidential vote is a straw poll that has no impact on who actually wins the U.S. presidency as Guam has no Electoral College vote.
DeLeon Guerrero said Guam’s presidential election straw poll is a non-binding four-year exercise that serves merely as an early indicator for how the rest of the U.S. mainland will vote.
She said conducting a presidential election straw poll in CNMI elections will demonstrate to the U.S. Congress that CNMI voters are determined to vote for the President and Vice President, whether officially or unofficially.
Edith E. DeLeon Guerrero
