{"id":379269,"date":"2022-11-09T06:06:30","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T20:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=379269"},"modified":"2022-11-09T06:06:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T20:06:30","slug":"precinct-3-residents-exercise-their-right-to-vote-on-election-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/precinct-3-residents-exercise-their-right-to-vote-on-election-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Precinct 3 residents exercise their right to vote on Election Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Precinct 3 voters wait in line at the Garapan Elementary School yesterday morning. (LEIGH GASES)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With 4,087 registered voters in all, Precinct 3 is certainly one of the biggest voting district in the CNMI and that was apparent yesterday, Nov. 8, 2022, with hundreds going to either the Garapan Elementary School polling site or the Oleai Elementary School polling site to cast their votes.<\/p>\n

The GES polling site itself was surrounded by Republican, Democrat, and independent candidates\u2019 tents, characterized by a raucous show from supporters who kept their distance from the small line of voters outside the entrance of the school cafeteria. The OES polling site had fewer people, with just two tents of both the Republican and independent supporters.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, the roads and area surrounding the north side of the Garapan Elementary School was filled with supporters of all ages and ethnicities\u2014waving their party flags or placards, the place noisy and alive with music and car horns beeping, and the line much longer than it was in the morning.<\/p>\n

When asked how the voting was going in the morning, GES poll supervisor Thelma Taitano said there hasn\u2019t been any problems so far.<\/p>\n

A voter who exited the polling site, Lourdes Mike, said she came out to exercise her right to vote. She said there were no issues with the voting process and that \u201cthey\u2019re all very helpful. Those people inside, they will ask you if you need help or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, a first-time poll worker, John Teregeyo, said there are two lines at the GES poll site for crowd control. He said the flow in the morning was smooth, with the afternoon picking up and becoming busier as there were more people coming out to vote after lunch, but that \u201ceverything\u2019s been good.\u201d When asked what the police officers were doing inside the poll site, he said that every poll site is assigned officers. \u201cIt\u2019s just to maintain order and in case someone comes in intoxicated\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Another voter, Tehani Kirby, said, \u201cIt’s always important to give your vote because if you have something that you want to fix in the community or you need help, that’s why we vote them in\u2014so they\u2019re there to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connie Cabrera Togawa of Capital Hill, who is a retiree, said she\u2019s voting for Rep. Tina Sablan (D-Saipan), because \u201cshe is going to be a good governor here. I am sick and tired of this corruption here on Saipan, honestly. I am not planning to request for employment because I am retired. I have little resources and I don’t need to work…\u201d\u00a0She is confident that Sablan would win in a runoff election.<\/p>\n

At the OES polling site, a voter who wished to remain anonymous said, \u201cThe younger generations need to come forward and cast their vote. We just want something that’s trustworthy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

A Republican supporter who voted early for\u00a0Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, said \u201cThis is what I believe in. \u2026I believe we got this.\u201d When asked about the possibility of a run-off, she said she will continue to vote for Torres but that she doesn\u2019t think there will be a run-off as she believes Torres will win the first time around.<\/p>\n

A first-time voter, 19-year-old Alyssa Alegre, said after casting her vote that the experience was \u201cnerve-racking,\u201d but that she came out to exercise her right to vote and said for young people to do the same because \u201cit really does matter.\u201d When asked if she was familiar with the candidates, she said that her school, Northern Marianas College, was helpful for hosting the Gubernatorial Townhall.<\/p>\n

Eighteen-year-old Izabala Guerrero, who was seen outside the independent supporter tents, said she\u2019s out there to support her mother, Marissa R. Flores who is running for Precinct 3. Guerrero hopes more of the younger generation will vote because \u201ctheir vote matters\u2014everyone\u2019s vote matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to CEC\u2019s website, as of Sept. 14, 2022, there were 15,559 registered voters on Saipan, 184 on the Northern Islands, 1,680 on Tinian, and 1,852 on Rota, for a total of 19,275 registered voters in the CNMI\u2014the biggest number in CNMI history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With 4,087 registered voters in all, Precinct 3 is certainly one of the biggest voting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":379302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8764],"class_list":["post-379269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-election-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379269","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}