Nearly 2K new voters in Nov. polls

Nearly 2,000 new voters will be participating in the Nov. 5, 2005 general elections, according to the Commonwealth Election Commission.

A total of 14,948 voters have signed up as of last Friday, the deadline for voter registration for the coming election.

This figure, which includes 1,886 new voters, is expected to breach the 15,000 mark as the election commission continues to accept registration forms mailed in by off-island voters before the Sept. 16, 2005 deadline.

CEC executive director Gregorio Sablan said this year’s turnout was “the most we’ve had registered in the Northern Marianas.”

He noted that there were about as many registered voters four years ago, but the 2001 figure included voters who failed to vote in 1999. “The new law requires us to remove the names of those who failed to vote in the 2001 and 2003 elections. Despite this, the number of voters climbed,” Sablan said.

An official voters list will be submitted for approval by the Board of Elections in mid-October 2005. The final list would include the names of qualified off-island voters and exclude any registered voters who could be convicted of a felony between now and then, Sablan said.

As of Sept. 16, Saipan and Northern Islands had a total of 12,262 voters.

The biggest number of voters come from the first election district, with 6,070 voters. The first district includes San Antonio (807), San Vicente (2,092), Koblerville (1,010), Kagman (1,156), and Northern Marianas College (1,005).

The second election district, which includes Chalan Kanoa and Susupe, has 950 voters.

The third district has 2,997 voters, including 939 from San Jose; 1,969 from Garapan; and 89 from the Northern Islands.

There are 2,245 registered voters from election district 4, including 617 from Tanapag, 503 from San Roque, and 1,125 from Capitol Hill.

Tinian has 1,203 voters while Rota has 1,503 voters.