Police: Election generally peaceful and orderly

As in previous elections, Saturday’s holding of general elections in the CNMI was peaceful and was done in an orderly manner, according to police.

Except for “minor” violations such as bringing campaign materials to the polling places’ premises and breaching the 100-foot boundary from the polling premises, no other election-related problems were reported to the Department of Public Safety, said election activities supervisor Lt. Pete Guerrero Saturday.

“Everything went well. It’s a very peaceful election. There were complaints of not complying with the rules, but we effectively handled the situation. We went and talked to them and they complied,” said Guerrero.

He said 31 police officers were deployed CNMI-wide to monitor and secure the polling centers.

“People know the rules. We just needed to remind them,” he said.

Police officers assigned at San Vicente polling place, the area with the largest number of registered voters, said that based on reports from other places, political supporters were entering the premises wearing political T-shirts and caps.

“They know they’re not supposed to do that, but they would still come. But it’s not [happening] here. It’s happening in other places,” said an officer.

In San Vicente, children were seen roaming around the school grounds with political posters and stickers.

“These are kids. They would come here with those political materials. Aside from that, there’s no problem. It’s always been peaceful here,” said the officer.

Meantime, some voters interviewed said that they did not really vote straight for one party.

“I had mixed candidates. I took some from one party and others from another party,” said a public elementary school teacher.

“I didn’t vote ‘all the way’ for a particular party. I had to think and evaluate the candidates qualifications from all parties,” said another voter.

A senior citizen from Kagman said he voted for all the candidates from one party except for one House seat.

“I voted for an incumbent congressman. He’s from a different party,” said the voter.

Known supporters of all four gubernatorial teams, however, said that they voted for all candidates from their own groups.

There are 15,118 voters from Saipan, Tinian, Rota and the Northern Islands, including about 1,500 off-island voters. The absentee ballots will be collected on Nov. 19.

Saipan’s Precinct 1, which includes San Antonio, San Vicente, Koblerville and Kagman, has the biggest number of registered voters (6,123).

Precinct 3, which includes Garapan and Gualo Rai, has the second biggest number of 3,039 voters.

Precinct 2 has 2,259 voters while precinct 2 has 952.

Tinian has 1,214 registered voters while Rota has 1,531.