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USPS assures absentee ballots are safe
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Posted on Nov 14 2005
The U.S. Postal Service assured the community yesterday that election returns from absentee voters were being stored safely in the Chalan Kanoa post office.
Acting postmaster George Palacios told voters that the recent burglary at the Capitol Hill post office was an isolated incident and should not be a cause for alarm.
“The Capitol Hill post office is a contracted station, while our office [in Chalan Kanoa] is run by USPS itself. There’s no way people could get inside our building to steal anything. We have good security and a reliable alarm system here,” Palacios said.
One or two unknown suspects allegedly broke into the Capitol Hill postal unit. The burglary reportedly took place sometime between Oct. 27 at 3pm and Oct. 28 at 8:30am. Approximately 50 to 150 letters and parcel mail were allegedly stolen.
Palacios refused to provide any information about the overseas ballots that have arrived so far.
But he said they would be safely guarded until Saturday noon, when the Commonwealth Election Commission would collect the election returns.
A total of 1,602 absentee ballots have been mailed or personally issued to overseas voters. The absentee votes will ultimately decide this year’s close gubernatorial election. The top three candidates have posted very small margins in the partial tally of poll votes.
Currently, the gubernatorial tandem of Benigno R. Fitial and Tim P. Villagomez is leading with 3,497 votes or 28 percent of the total votes cast.
Independent candidates Heinz S. Hofschneider and David Apatang ranked second with 3,3371 votes or about 27 percent, while GOP’s Gov. Juan N. Babauta and Diego T. Benavente got 3,228 votes or 26 percent.
Democratic Party’s Froilan C. Tenorio and Antonio Santos, who got 2,256 or 18 percent of the total votes, have already conceded to their opponents.
