HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Thomas Hicks, a commissioner with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, has been on Guam making observations and speaking to officials about election matters.
“We have a 110(-member) board, called a standards board, for which I serve as a designated federal officer. (Guam Election Commission Executive Director) Maria (Pangelinan) has for a number of years asked me to come to Guam, similar to my other parts of the job of going to different election authorities throughout the states,” Hicks said Thursday during a brief meeting with media.
“What I would say is that all election officials have the same goal, and that’s to ensure those who are eligible to vote can have their votes cast and counted accurately. Guam is looking at ensuring that their votes are not just counted accurately, but to increase that, in terms of voter participation, but also increase the time it takes to accumulate those votes. I believe now there is an issue of (counts) going to six o’clock the next morning, but there are proposals being put out to shorten that time frame,” Hicks said.
According to Pangelinan, a specific issue involves the primary election and concerns with requiring a separate ballot sheet for either the public auditor or attorney general, which are nonpartisan positions. During the upcoming election cycle, in 2024, the public auditor position will be up for a vote.
“The primary election is supposedly a party election – who will represent the Democrats and the Republicans. So, there’s this second ballot sheet for a nonpartisan candidate. We’re looking to see if the political will is to eliminate that second ballot sheet so that we can only count half as many ballots,” Pangelinan said.
Measures to address that issue have been introduced by Sen. Roy Quinata and co-sponsored by Sen. Joe San Agustin, as part of five total bills proposing amendments to election-related laws. The bills were a “direct response” to recommendations from the GEC’s latest comparative analysis report, which highlights areas in the electoral process needing legislative attention, according to a release from Quinata’s office.
“The Guam Election Commission is mandated to submit recommendations every odd year by June 30,” Pangelinan said. “What we do is, as part of that submission of the data of the election cycle previously, we’re mandated to also submit updates to the election code. And so that was one of them.”
For these specific local issues, because states and territories run their own elections, Hicks said the EAC would help by showing what other jurisdictions have done in terms of best practices or how things have worked in the past.
“For instance, in 2020, when the world was shut down during the (COVID-19) pandemic, a lot of jurisdictions went to vote-by-mail. So we called on Washington state and Oregon to show a number of things that they were doing in terms of vote-by-mail because they have been doing it for 20 years,” Hicks said.
Another issue, one recently brought to Hicks’ attention, involves voting among military service members amid the military buildup and ultimate transfer of Marines from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam.
“Most of the concerns we were hearing is that, you have a Marine from Texas stationed in Okinawa, but (on Guam) temporarily. Where does that ballot go? Does that go to their home in Texas, does it go to Okinawa, or does it come here? Those are some of the concerns we’re hearing, to ensure that they can still have their voice heard, no matter where they are and where they want to participate,” Hicks said.
Hicks also visited Saipan to speak with officials about their issues and educate them about the EAC. The territory doesn’t have representation on the EAC standards board, but Hicks said he believed Congress will discuss that.
Commissioner Thomas Hicks, of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, visits the Guam Election Commission in Tamuning on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023.
