Tudela said only four DPS personnel were dispatched to maintain peace and order of the area, and help secure the ballot boxes.
Yesterday, the five ballot boxes from the five polling centers on island were brought to Palau.
The absentee ballots will be canvassed simultaneously with the votes cast in Palau on Nov. 4.
Palau Election Commissioner Santos Borja and his five-man team conducted the absentee voting on Saipan.
Five classrooms of MHS Building E were designated as polling centers.
Borja said they were expecting over 400 registered voters to cast absentee ballots on Saipan.
“The conduct of the election is very peaceful and there’s no complaint from any supporters of candidates,” he told Variety.
DPS Patrol Chief Sgt. Joe Saures said they escorted the ballot boxes from the school to DPS-central for safekeeping and then to the airport where Palau’s election officials transported them to Palau.
The only complaint on Saturday was about the vehicle that displayed a sticker that referred to the assigned number on the ballot of presidential candidate Elias Camsek Chin, Palau’s vice president.
Supporters of his presidential rival, attorney Johnson Toribiong, notified DPS about the vehicle.
Toribiong’s running mate, Delegate Kerai Mariur, was at the entrance MHS when the vehicle entered the prohibited zone, which was 500 feet away from the voting center.
DPS personnel removed the sticker from the vehicle, which was still allowed to enter because one of its passengers was a registered voter with a physical disabilities.
During the absentee voting held from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Palauan voters had to walk from the school gate to the polling centers on campus.
Their vehicles were barred from entering the school premises except those with official appointments.
Supporters of Chin and Toribiong stood along Beach Road across from the school to hold campaign banners and placards while offering food and drinks to the voters.
