COMPARED to the Election Day tabulation process last week, the Commonwealth Election Commission said on Friday that the Nov. 25 gubernatorial runoff election “is going to be faster.”
“It’s a very simple process — I’ve been there [before],” said election board chair Jesus I. Sablan.
Although the runoff ballots will be counted manually, Sablan said voters have two options only, referring to the Republican Torres-Sablan and Independent Palacios-Apatang teams.
As for last week’s ballot tabulation, which started on Tuesday evening and ended at past 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sablan said: “Unfortunately, at one point…somebody took a couple of ballots that were already taken out, and placed them in the box [of envelopes] that were supposed to be signed off by the commissioners and then stored,” he said.
Once he determined what had happened, Sablan said he made sure that the ballots and envelopes were all accounted for and in their correct places.
“It’s unfortunate that [the delay] happened. From my standpoint, I would like to see it done earlier…but unfortunately, one [other] issue is the processing of the absentee ballots,” Sablan said.
He said it takes time to ensure that absentee voters comply with instructions, including providing a signed affidavit along with their ballots.
“If a ballot has been exposed, we’re not going to count it,” he said.
Sablan said the board is looking into how to make the next general election more efficient.
He would like to see the election law amended to allow the CEC to process absentee ballots as early as the first week of November.
“The law only allows us to pick up [absentee ballots] from the post office on Election Day at 11 o’clock…. Just imagine processing that number of absentee ballots — 1,000 to 1,500. That is going to take a lot of time,” he added.
The first day of the early voting period for the runoff election starts on Friday, Nov. 18.
According to the CEC, absentee ballots must be postmarked on or before Nov. 25. The last day to receive runoff election absentee ballots is Dec. 9.
For more information, contact the CEC at (670) 235-8682/3/5 or [email protected]/. Its office hours are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Commonwealth Election Commission Chair Jesus I. Sablan holds two provisional Northern Islands ballots during a meeting on Friday.
