Tinian mayor-elect Joey Patrick San Nicolas has expressed dismay over incumbent Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz\u2019s allegations of fraud and claim that he won by 53.5 percent of the vote from people residing on Tinian. <\/p>\n
This developed as Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja heard on Friday San Nicolas\u2019 and Commonwealth Election Commission\u2019s separate motions to dismiss Dela Cruz\u2019s election contest. Naraja placed the motions under advisement.<\/p>\n
In an interview after the hearing, San Nicolas said that according to Dela Cruz, through his counsel Mark Hanson, the mayor was voted by 53.5 percent of people of Tinian or those residing on Tinian.<\/p>\n
San Nicolas said that being on Tinian doesn\u2019t mean these voters are the only ones allowed to vote under the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the law, if you as the parents decide to move to the States and have your child educated, say in Guam or Oregon, and you maintain your domiciliary, you maintain your residency,\u201d the former attorney general said.<\/p>\n
San Nicolas said an 18-year-old from Tinian High School who joins the military and serves the country, whether in another country or within the United States, his vote is still equal to anyone who stays on Tinian.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo say that only the people of Tinian, only the people who reside on Tinian, that their voice should only be the ones to be considered, I think that\u2019s wrong,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n
San Nicolas said if Dela Cruz or Hanson has a problem with the statute or status of certain people\u2019s residency, he can talk to the Legislature and the Commonwealth Election Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for me to sit there and listen to Mr. Hanson say in open court that Mr. Dela Cruz won because 52 percent of people who reside on Tinian said he should win is false, is wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
San Nicolas said many people leave Tinian for different reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver my life I left Tinian at least three times. Two times to get an education, one time as member of the Attorney General\u2019s Office. I never left Tinian. My heart was always there,\u201d San Nicolas said.<\/p>\n
Attorney Viola Alepuyo, Matthew Gregory\u2019s co-counsel for San Nicolas, said that Hanson bringing up the fraud allegations in court could be likened to just throwing candy around. <\/p>\n
Alepuyo said Dela Cruz alleges that all these fraud should be cause enough to hold another election for Tinian mayor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is because you are alleging this fraud, basically you\u2019re saying that the Department of Public Safety, the Office of the Public Auditor, the Election Commission, the Attorney General\u2019s Office and their investigation unit are all in cahoots, they\u2019re all conspiring\u2026\u201d Alepuyo said. <\/p>\n
In a separate interview, Hanson said the point is that the election system on Tinian is broken.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people were allowed to vote from off island that have no ties to the island. The system is allowing it. This is the evidence of that fraud,\u201d Hanson said.<\/p>\n
If not for the complete recount of the ballots, the lawyer said, they would have not known the extent of the fraud.<\/p>\n
\u201cBottom line, the problem is the people of Tinian don\u2019t believe it. They have no faith in the results and they want to redo it again and they deserve to do it again,\u201d Hanson said.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said the people of Tinian would have to live with the results of the election for four years. \u201cAnd they want to know that it\u2019s their choice. That they have not been scammed, that the election was not stolen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In his opposition to the motions to dismiss, Hanson said this election contest is still, at its core, a fight about fairness and integrity in the election process and the expectation of the people of Tinian that their votes count.<\/p>\n
He said Dela Cruz won 53.5 percent of the vote on Tinian, a clear majority of the people of Tinian for which Tinian is actually their home.<\/p>\n
Hanson said this Tinian election was undone by the 42 percent of those claimed \u201cTinian residents\u201d that voted elsewhere by absentee and early voting on Saipan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis election was an example of how the absentee and early voting system has run amok,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hanson said voters from the mainland that haven\u2019t lived on Tinian for many, many years were allowed to vote. He said voters registered and voting in Guam were allowed to vote on Tinian too.<\/p>\n
Hanson said many voters that have never had any legitimate ties to Tinian were allowed to vote.<\/p>\n
He said the people of Tinian got an election marred by fraud and fatal mistakes by the CEC, which is the gatekeeper to the voting booth.<\/p>\n
Hanson added that an evidentiary hearing must proceed to shed light on the improprieties in the Tinian election that \u201cmust surely lead to a new and fair election.\u201d<\/p>\n
In CEC\u2019s motion to dismiss, CEC counsel Chief Prosecutor Brian Flaherty reiterated the commission\u2019s earlier arguments that Dela Cruz\u2019s allegations of irregularities are not sufficient to change the final result of the election.<\/p>\n
Flaherty said at the recounting of the votes, San Nicolas won by nine votes over Dela Cruz, 705-696. <\/p>\n
At the counting during the Nov. 4 election day, San Nicolas edged Dela Cruz with only seven votes, 703-696. <\/p>\n
Flaherty argued, among other things, that there is insufficient evidence produced at the recount and asserted by Dela Cruz in his complaint that irregularities or improper conduct in the election proceedings, if any occurred, are sufficient to rise to the level of actual prejudice against Dela Cruz.<\/p>\n
In San Nicolas\u2019 motion, Alepuyo argued that the reason why there are observers at the polling places is to see if there is irregularity.<\/p>\n
Alepuyo cited that at the polling places, there were election workers, DPS officers, OPA personnel, and others.<\/p>\n
Alepuyo said during two days of recounting and reconciling of ballots, the court observed how the CEC board and staff meticulously examined the individual ballots.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said she submits that CEC follows the regulations of the election law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is human error. But does it mean that there is irregularity? No!\u201d Alepuyo stressed.<\/p>\n
Alepuyo cited that CEC has exhibited a 99.863 accuracy percentage in conducting the Nov. 4 election for Tinian.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said Dela Cruz actually received the same number of votes between the counting on election night and during the recounting of votes on Tinian.<\/p>\n
Alepuyo said it is time for the court to make a decision by dismissing Dela Cruz\u2019s lawsuit so the people of Tinian can move on and the parties can start the healing process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tinian mayor-elect Joey Patrick San Nicolas has expressed dismay over incumbent Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900,4],"tags":[732,191,67,1339],"class_list":["post-186948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-local-news","tag-cec","tag-dela-cruz","tag-people","tag-san-nicolas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}