{"id":425598,"date":"2024-11-06T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=425598"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"REPORTER-S-NOTEBOOK","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/REPORTER-S-NOTEBOOK\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/strong>hile this year\u2019s election was smaller in scale compared to the CNMI\u2019s previous elections, the hearts and spirits of party supporters remain large. From as early as 6am, party supporters had tents and signs up in front of precinct polling places to show their support. Children and adults alike were seen waving and cheering on arriving voters as early as 7am. (Kimberly B. Esmores)<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

While election day is known as the chance for community members to have their voices heard in the selection of their leaders, others see it as a chance to get together with family members in solidarity to support their candidates.<\/p>\n

While others saw it as a chance to meet old friends and family members, others saw it as a chance to network and make new friends with fellow party members.<\/p>\n

According to some, they were able to make new friends through campaigning stating that there is no deeper bond than the bond of fellow party members. (Kimberly B. Esmores)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

For the first time, I was tasked with covering this year\u2019s election and it is not for the faint of heart. Aside from having to jet from poll place to poll place, I was also given a chance to see up close and personal how ballots are tabulated and the ins and outs of tabulation machine.<\/p>\n

I learned that there is no room for error when it comes to this impeccably precise machine. I was truly amazed at how far technology has come in terms of tabulating votes. (Kimberly B. Esmores)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

A flash of bright pink. Got to give it to the Democrats for flair and hype for sure. It was about 3:45pm and scorching hot, and yet the wearer of that pink Harris and Walz shirt lifted his hands and swayed his hips in dance like he was used to the heat. And his fellow blue supporters showed their passion as well, giving the loudest \u201cBiba!\u201d I heard yesterday of the election precincts I covered. That\u2019s showing out. Bringing the party for your party. Respect (Chrystal Marino)<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

The volunteers or workers at the polling sites, at the least the ones I met at Precinct 1B-1, 1B-2, and 1C were some of the sweetest people ever. Despite being on their feet for nearly, or more than 8 hours, and in the heat no less, they kept their smiles and the good vibes. One woman who assisted me in the curbside voting that morning, was still smiling when I returned later that afternoon for my reporting. I could hear the jokes being made among their fellow workers, and some even to me. One of these workers, who who would remain anonymous, shared that the humor helped those getting tired \u201cWe\u2019ve been here for the whole day, we got to make some jokes,\u201d he laughed. Workers at another voting site which I will not mention, did point out to me, that if I wanted, there was usually free lunch at campaign tents for supporters. I ended up not going, but I genuinely appreciated the gesture. I got to shout out these guys. I\u2019m grateful for them. (Chrystal Marino)<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

The heat definitely took a toll on campaigns yesterday afternoon. Past 3pm the heat was so intense most supporters had to hide under the shade or they took turns to wave by the road, rotating with others, but despite this, people stayed there showing their support, even the man\u2019amko<\/em>. I have mad respect for all of them. (Chrystal Marino)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

Passionate, and yet chill, printed and painted signs, music or no music, the Republican Party tents I saw were a beautiful mix of a younger and older generation, united in their politics, and they were so sweet and kind. I felt like I wanted to hug some of them. As a slightly introverted person myself, the people I met in these tents, made me feel a lot more comfortable. (Chrystal Marino)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

Independents are a vibe, like literally. Also spanning various ages, this group, lowkey, had some of the coolest, chill people I met in the campaign yesterday, and yet, you can tell they are also motivated to show their support. I didn\u2019t see any beefing between these parties and others. In fact, I saw two people, while promoting their candidates showed their hats which promoted another party\u2019s candidate for a House seat. To me it shows that, a person has the right to vote not limited to their party, but which person, they feel can represent them better. Someone who can be their voice. (Chrystal Marino)<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

Covering the midterms is totally different from the general election I covered for the first time in 2022. This time around, the poll stations were less crowded and busy for obvious reasons\u2014that there were less candidates to vote for. However, it had a similar sense of urgency for supporters gathered outside the polling places as they displayed the names and faces of their candidates, and almost frantically waved at each car that passed. It was particularly not as busy at the Precinct 4 poll area in the Jesus Mafnas Legislative Building on Capitol Hill. The nice sergeant-at-arms who ushers voters in and out of the building told me it\u2019s always been relatively quiet in that polling area during elections. This year though, the tents of the supporters of the candidates are near the highway 150 feet away instead of across or adjacent to the building due to disruptions in past elections, the sergeant-at-arms explained when I asked why they were quite far. (Leigh Gases)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

At the northernmost poll booth in San Roque at the Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, it was a little livelier, with the main road to enter the school clad with tents and colors of Edwin Propst\u2019s supporters on one side, and Kimberlyn King-Hinds\u2019 supporters on the other. They all waved as I drove down to the school. There, at the front of the school, was Malcolm Omar and some family members who just finished voting. They took selfies and I exited my car and asked them if they wanted me to take their photos, which they obliged. (Leigh Gases)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

Tanapag\u2019s polling area at the Tanapag Community Center had a much bigger supporter presence as the apartment building\u2019s parking lot right across the middle school was lined with tents and supporters. There, I saw Thomas Manglona from KUAM interviewing a Caucasian man in a cowboy hat who turned out to be lawyer Jim Bob Kingman. On the main Tanapag road, was a tent with James Rayphand supporters, waving at each car that passed by. (Leigh Gases)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

n n n<\/p>\n

It was my first time covering an election here on Saipan. I waited for the candidates to finish voting with a plan of having the candidates raise their indelible-ink marked fingers (like in the Philippines) to use as my photo for the article that I was going to write. When I was about to take the photo of U.S. delegate candidate Edwin K. Propst (D-Saipan) and Reps. Vincent Aldan (Ind-Saipan) and Diego Vincent Camacho (D-Saipan), I was surprised that their fingers were unstained. I asked the three candidates before my interview and they also don\u2019t know why. Propst joked \u201cSo, we can vote again? \u201c and Aldan said that CEC can be inconsistent but Propst said that maybe they don\u2019t need to do that anymore, they have a better system. He even added that it\u2019s no consequence to them and believes that the election will be fair and that the Commission on Election Commonwealth has done its job and just hope for a speedy count tonight. (Racquel H. Floyd)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

– \u2014 –<\/p>\n

It was 9:30am when I arrived at Dandan Middle School and waited for U.S. delegate candidate Edwin K. Propst to vote. While waiting, I observed how the poll supervisor assisted and guided voters to the line as soon as they arrived wherein the flow became smooth.<\/p>\n

I would like to commend poll supervisor Barney Lios and confine worker Jack Doway. (Racquel H. Floyd)<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n


Reporters’ Notebook pix<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While this year\u2019s election was smaller in scale compared to the CNMI\u2019s previous elections, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425598","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}