Torres-Sablan wins; to face Palacios-Apatang in runoff

Commonwealth Election Commission board chair Jesus I. Sablan, seated left, explains something as CEC executive director Kayla S. Igitol and CEC commissioner Jonathan Christopher A. Manglona listen during the tabulation of ballots at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe Tuesday night. (KIMBERLY B. ESMORES)

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and his running mate, Sen. Vinnie Vinson F. Sablan (R-Saipan), won the Nov. 8, 2022 general elections, but failed to gain a majority share of the votes, paving the way for a runoff race against Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and his running mate, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, based on the unofficial results of a long and arduous nine-hour tabulation process conducted by the Commonwealth Election Commission at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.

The Torres-Sablan tandem of the Republican Party defeated the Palacios-Apatang unified independent team with a convincing 836 lead margin.

Torres-Palacios obtained 3,007 votes from early voting, 2,149 from Election Day voters, and 570 from absentee voters, for a total of 5,726 votes, or 38.83% of the total votes cast.

As of press time last night, Saipan Tribune was still waiting for comments from Torres.

CEC started the tabulation process after the arrival of ballots from polling places at the multi-purpose center beginning Tuesday past 7pm. CEC executive director Kayla S. Igitol announced Wednesday at 3:30pm the results of the last tabulated votes from the absentee voters.

CEC board chair Jesus I. Sablan, in an interview shortly after Igitol’s last announcement, said they would not certify the unofficial tabulation results that day (Wednesday) as they need to rest in order to have fresh minds in looking into the results.

Sablan did not indicate when they are going to hold a runoff election.

The CEC will hold a runoff election if no gubernatorial candidate gets more than 50%—or more than half—of the total votes cast and counted.

Palacios-Apatang received 2,129 from early voting, 2,204 from Election Day voters, and 557 from absentee voters, for a total of 4,890 votes, or 33.16% of the total votes cast.

Office of the Public Auditor investigator Edward Cabrera forcibly opens one of the two padlocks of a ballot box that contains 139 early voting votes from the Northern Islands during the tabulation of votes in the Nov. 8 general elections at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe Wednesday early morning. Also in the photo are Commonwealth Election Commission board chair Jesus I. Sablan, extreme left, CEC executive director Kayla S. Igitol and CEC commissioner Jesus Cepeda. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)

Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan) and her running mate, Rep. Leila Haveia Staffler (D-Saipan), of the Democratic Party, came in last after obtaining 1,755 from early voting, 1,973 from Election Day voters, and 404 from absentee voters, for a total of 4,132 votes or 28.02% of the total votes cast.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP), who ran unopposed for his eighth term in the U.S. Congress, obtained 5,534 from early voting, 5,481 from Election Day voters, and 1,300 from absentee voters, for a total of 12,315, or 100% of the total votes cast.

Attorney General Edward E. Manibusan was re-elected for his third four-year term after defeating his lone challenger, former Superior Court associate judge Juan T. Lizama, via 7,522-6,113 votes.

For the Senate race, three Republicans, two independents, and one Democrat emerged victorious. This means that the 23rd Senate will be composed of four Republicans, three independents, and two Democrats.

For the Saipan Senate race, Rep. Celina R. Babauta, a Democrat, and Rep. Corina L. Magofna, an independent, prevailed.

Babauta got 5,743 in total votes, while Magofna obtained 5,200 votes.

Rep. Angel A. Demapan, a Republican, came short, with 4,885 in total votes.

For the Tinian Senate contest, Sen. Francisco Q. Cruz and Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider, both Republicans, won over Thomasa Rita P. Mendiola, who came in third.

Cruz received a total of 932 votes, while Hofschneider got 808 in total votes. Mendiola only obtained 421 in total votes.

For the Rota Senate battle, Rep. Donald M. Manglona, an independent, and James C. Mendiola, a Republican, emerged victorious.

Manglona came strong with 905 in total votes, while Mendiola grabbed 748 in total votes.

Rota Mayor Efraim M. Atalig, a Republican, got only 364 votes to land fourth place in the five-way race.

For the House of Representatives, the incoming House will be composed of 13 independents, four Democrats, and three Republicans.

For Precinct 1, the candidates who made it to the magic six are Rep. Edwin Propst, a Democrat, who got 2,296 votes; Vincent Raymond S. Aldan, an independent, who received 1,800; Rep. Joseph A. Flores, an independent, who obtained 1,771; Roy Christopher A. Ada, a Republican, who got 1,754; Diego Vincent F. Camacho, a Democrat, and Roman C. Benavente, an independent, who received 1,672 votes respectively.

Members of the Commonwealth Election Commission check documents at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center late Tuesday night. (KIMBERLY ESMORES)

In Precinct 2, Rep. John Paul P. Sablan, an independent, and Manny Gregory T. Castro, got 825 and 760 votes, respectively, to win in the four-way race.

For Precinct 3, the six successful candidates are Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao, an independent, who got 1,947 votes; Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, an independent, who received 1,945; Ralph N. Yumul, an independent, who obtained 1,590; Rep. Denita K. Yangetmai, a Democrat, who received 1,335; Rep. Vicente C. Camacho, a Democrat, who got 1,232; and Marissa Renee Flores, an independent, who obtained 1,258.

In Precinct 4, Rep. Joel C. Camacho and Malcolm Jason Omar, both independents, obtained 930 and 824 votes, respectively, to emerge victorious in the four-way matchup.

In Precinct 5, Angelo A. Camacho, an independent, and Thomas John D. Manglona, received 1,156 and 999 votes, respectively, to prevail in the five-way contest.

In Precinct 6, or Tinian, Rep. Patrick H. San Nicolas, a Republican, got 736 votes to defeat his lone opponentm Frederick Arend Dela Cruz, a Democrat, who received 456 votes.

In Precinct 7, or Rota, Julie Marie A. Ogo, an independent, obtained 623 votes to prevail in the three-way race.

As of 9pm Tuesday, poll workers were balancing or reconciling the ballots at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center.

At 11:30pm Tuesday, CEC started counting the early votes on Saipan.

At 12:15am, Wednesday, Rota ballots arrived at the multi-purpose center. Two hours later, CEC executive director Kayla S. Igitol told reporters that they have to cut the padlock using a bolt cutter for the ballot box of the Northern Islands as the key could not open one of two locks.

The key issue caused a delay as Democratic Party’s Strategic Committee chair Daniel Quitugua questioned the legality of the CEC’s plan.

At 3:10am Wednesday, CEC’s legal counsel, deputy attorney general Lillian A. Tenorio, told Quitugua that it’s protocol to forcibly open a ballot box if they can’t open it with the key.

The box contained 139 early votes from the Northern Islands. Sablan said the key probably just malfunctioned. CEC staff subsequently reconciled the ballots and found no discrepancy.

As of 6:10am Wednesday, Sablan said they had completed the tabulation of early voting on Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and the Northern Islands. Sablan said aside from the padlock key issue, one of the factors causing the delay was the processing of the ballots that are rejected by the tabulating machine as they have to review them, and once they try to rectify they have to transpose them to another ballots.

At 9:10am Wednesday, Igitol announced the unofficial tabulation results for Election Day.

Igitol later announced that to ensure that only eligible voters voted through the absentee voting process, she mailed out 333 letters to certain voters requesting absentee ballots whose eligibility was in question based on domicile and the residency requirements of the statute, including those who were registered in another state or territory.

She said of the 333, about 63 requested hearings and the hearings were conducted by the CEC administrative hearing officer.

She said 19 were referred back to her for reconsideration and were deemed qualified to cast their absentee ballots.

Police officers unload boxes of early votes from Tinian for counting at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center late Tuesday night. (KIMBERLY ESMORES)

Igitol said the hearing officer recommended that 39 remain on the CNMI voter registry for the 2022 general election and the CEC approved the recommendation.

She said the hearing officer found five ineligible to remain on the voter registry and recommended that they be removed and that CEC approved the recommendation.

As for the other absentee applicants who had not requested for a hearing after reviewing the hearing process, Igitol said the CEC board decided to disqualify and remove from the voter registry only those who on the date of the election, Nov. 8, are dual registered.

She said all the other voters on the list who are not dual registered would be allowed to have their absentee ballots counted in this election.