{"id":332840,"date":"2020-11-04T06:03:49","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T20:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=332840"},"modified":"2020-11-04T06:03:49","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T20:03:49","slug":"thousands-make-voices-heard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/thousands-make-voices-heard\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands make voices heard"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
A poll worker checks the registration of Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP), as he prepares to cast his vote at the Garapan Elementary School. He was accompanied to the polling site by his wife, Andrea. (NEIL FAMA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most people had their work hours cut, several have lost their jobs, families are tightening their budget, the private sector is struggling, and residents and the government are essentially dependent on federal funding due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, but that did not stop thousands of face mask-wearing voters from making their voices heard at yesterday\u2019s generally peaceful but out-of-the-ordinary election in the CNMI.<\/p>\n

As of press time last night, the Commonwealth Election Commission had yet to start tabulating the ballots. They weren\u2019t expected to do so until around 10pm or 11pm last night.<\/p>\n

In this extraordinary election, people had more choices as the Democratic Party had 18 candidates or almost a full slate, which is the first time in over four decades for the party.<\/p>\n

The Republican Party had 21 candidates, while nine are running as independents. There were also 20 nonpartisans, including one justice and two judges who were on the retention ballot.<\/p>\n

Commonwealth Election Commission executive director Julita A. Villagomez said they had no major problems at all. This was echoed by CEC administrative hearing officer Kayla Igitol, who said the election has been running well, and they haven\u2019t had any major concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just voters not knowing whether they\u2019re registered or they forget that they\u2019re registered, or they forget that they never registered,\u201d she said. Others failed to vote in three successive elections and are only now trying to come out and vote, not knowing that they\u2019re now considered inactive.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s the only situations we\u2019ve been running into. Nothing major. Things have been going really smooth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A voter casts a vote inside the polling station at Oleai Elementary School. (Ferdie De La Torre)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Igitol said the early voting did help with the pace that they\u2019re seeing on election day yesterday\u2014pretty slow but smooth. \u201cBut it was 21 days. That was a long time,\u201d she said, referring to the early voting period.<\/p>\n

As of Monday, a total of 8,369 had cast early votes in the CNMI. The 21-day early voting on Saipan and seven-day early voting on Tinian and Rota ended Monday.<\/p>\n

As of Oct. 7, there was a total of 18,519 registered voters in the CNMI.\u00a0As of Oct. 26, there were 1,625 absentee voters.<\/p>\n

Villagomez said the CEC board met yesterday afternoon to formalize their tabulation committee.<\/p>\n

Poima Maleah Mafnas Tarkong, 21, who was among those who voted yesterday afternoon at Dandan Middle School, was supposed to avail of the 21-day early voting process, but she was just so busy being a full-time student at Northern Marianas College and has two jobs. \u201cSo since today I was off and my classes were cancelled, I actually had the time to come and vote today,\u201d Tarkong said.<\/p>\n

She said the voting process was very fast and very easy so she really appreciates the CEC officials and staff for working on it.<\/p>\n

Tarkong said she decided to select the candidates based of what they stand for. She said she selects people who seem to really do want change and make the islands better and not people who just talk and make empty promises.<\/p>\n

Tarkong said she based it on her knowledge of what they actually do for the community and how she knows them as best as she could.\u00a0 \u201cThe problem here is we\u00a0don\u2019t really have a lot to choose from in certain instances. So I tried to incorporate that into voting\u00a0but sometimes it\u2019s hard when there\u2019s not a lot of representation,\u201d Tarkong added.<\/p>\n

House Speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao (R-Saipan), who is seeking re-election for Precinct 3 under the Republican Party, said that having the Democratic Party fielding many candidates is a good opportunity for people to make choices.<\/p>\n

Attao said the availability of more candidates a very good outcome for the election. \u201cIt\u2019s positive because we have choices and, at the end of the day, people get to decide who will\u00a0be representing them in the next two years and we\u2019ve got to respect that,\u201d he said. \u201cOpportunities is all that people ask for and they should get those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attao gave credit to the CEC for stepping up. He said the CEC went to the Legislature to work something out and urge the Legislature to pass a temporary law for this election because of the COVID-19 pandemic that\u2019s facing the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe give credit to those guys at the election commission for working that out and making sure\u00a0that the people\u2019s safety comes first,\u201d Attao said.<\/p>\n

Former House speaker Heinz Hofschneider said in an interview after voting at Garapan Elementary School that he wishes all the candidates the best. Hofschneider said the Democrats, the Republicans, and independents worked hard in this election. \u201cMay the best candidates that the people see win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider said this is a difficult period\u00a0that everyone is experiencing, not only the CNMI but around the world. \u201cWe have so many challenges. And I\u2019m hoping for\u00a0the best that people pay attention to the people and focus on the economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider said that, without the economy, even if there is a grandiose plan to benefit the people, it won\u2019t be possible if the CNMI does not rejuvenate the economy.<\/p>\n

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) and his wife, Andrea, voted at the Garapan Elementary School at 9am.<\/p>\n

Sablan said the voting process was organized and that the CEC had to enforce safety measures so it took a little bit of time to vote.<\/p>\n

Sablan said he understands that maybe over half of the people voted either through early voting or absentee ballots, which make it a little easier for in-person voting yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I think it\u2019s going to be a little slower but also safer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sablan said he is humbled and grateful, being a sure winner as he is running unopposed.<\/p>\n

He said it allowed him more time to do the work that he needed to done in Congress. \u201cWe got this education money for teachers and school support staff that I\u2019ve been working on for some time. We finally we\u2019re able to put together and we introduced it in the House and that brings 10 years of funding for teachers and support staff\u2014the salaries basically,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

The delegate said the Democratic Party fielding many candidates is good as it gives people more choices. He said the two sides can debate their policies and explain to the people their differences, if there are any.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis, I hope, is a start of the rebirth if, I may, of the two party-system,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

More voters started arriving at polling places between 10am and 1pm.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and first lady Diann Torres voted early last Saturday at the Kagman Community Center.<\/p>\n

There are 68 candidates for 39 positions in this election.<\/p>\n

Aside from the delegate\u2019s position, there are 38 positions up for grabs.<\/p>\n

Voters elected the delegate, one senator each for\u00a0Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, 20 members of the House of Representatives, eight members of the municipal councils for Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, and three Board of Education members.<\/p>\n

On Saipan, there are three positions for the municipal council,\u00a0but there are only two candidates.<\/p>\n

For Board of Education, there is no position for Tinian.<\/p>\n

People also voted whether to retain or not\u00a0on the bench CNMI Supreme Court Associate Justice Perry B. Inos, and Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja and Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most people had their work hours cut, several have lost their jobs, families are tightening…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":332841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-332840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332840","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=332840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}