Earlier this week, acting Attorney General Tubosoye Brown overturned a September legal opinion issued by his office that had resulted in the removal of Kwajalein candidate Ataji Balos for a technicality on his nomination form.
“The overriding spirit of the Constitution as it relates to the electoral process is one of inclusion and fairness,” Brown said Tuesday. Although Balos’ candidacy was initially accepted by the Electoral Administration in July, it was later stricken on the basis of a government legal opinion that said neither Balos nor the person submitting the nomination form had properly signed the document. The removal of Balos eliminated the need for a vote for the three parliament seats for Kwajalein, as the three incumbents are the only others standing.
“Any interpretation of the Election Act that is intended to stress the hypothetic need to sign an already accepted nomination paper and deny an affected candidate the right to contest an election, such as you have done, amounts to an infringement on that candidate’s constitutional right to participate in the electoral process,” Brown said in a letter Friday to Chief Electoral Officer Joseph Jorlang. “It was clearly a gross error that Mr. Balos had his candidacy annulled by your office.”
Electoral officials were scrambling to reprint Kwajalein ballots in time for Monday’s national election, and setting a new timetable for receipt of votes from Kwajalein voters living outside the country.
“The Kwajalein ballot is being redone this week and we are informing Kwajalein voters about the change,” Ministry of Internal Affairs Acting Secretary Wallace Peter, who is overseeing the election, said on Tuesday. The domestic election will not be affected by the addition of Balos to the Kwajalein ballot and will move ahead with the rest of the country on November 21, Peter said.
Peter and Jorlang said that the deadlines for off-island voters to obtain postal absentee ballots and to receive the filled out ballots back in Majuro are being pushed back so they can vote.
Current rules require all ballots mailed from off-island to be postmarked on or before November 19, and to arrive no later than December 5. These deadlines were changed Tuesday to December 16 to apply for the corrected Kwajalein postal ballot, according to Wisse Amram, the deputy chief electoral officer. Kwajalein postal absentee ballots must arrive in Majuro by mail no later than Tuesday December 27.
Peter said the aim is to have the Kwajalein votes counted prior to the New Year, so that Kwajalein senators can be seated with the rest of the members of parliament when the parliament convenes for its first session on January 9.
Balos was an MP from 1979 to 2003. He lost election bids for Kwajalein in both 2003 and 2007.
