The Commonwealth Election Commission members meet Monday to certify the candidates for this year’s election. In photo are CEC Chair Susan Babauta, Vice Chair Jose Kiyoshi, members Jesus Sablan, Remedio Sablan and Esther Yatar, CEC Executive Director Kayla Igitol, and CEC’s legal counsel, Chief Solicitor J. Robert Glass Jr.
THE Commonwealth Election Commission board members — Chair Susan Babauta, Vice Chair Jose Kiyoshi, Jesus Sablan, Remedio Sablan and Esther Yatar — on Monday unanimously approved the certification of all 61 candidates’ petitions submitted for this year’s general election.
The board also discussed the preparations for the Nov. 5 election.
CEC Executive Director Kayla Igitol said the CNMI’s total number of registered voters was 18,129, including absentee voters.
Prior to the certification, she informed the board that the CEC staffers had reviewed all 61 petitions.
“The last day to submit petitions was Aug. 9. CEC received a total of 61 petitions. I’d like to recommend to the board to certify all 61 candidates for the 2024 general election. They have complied with the requirements of the election law,” Igitol said.
All five board members voted yes.
Of the 61 candidates, 31 are running as independents, eight as Republicans and five as Democrats. Seventeen are running for non-partisan posts, including Superior Court Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio, who is seeking retention.
Igitol also requested the board to approve the ballot layout for the upcoming election. This was unanimously approved by the board.
She told the board, “We want to finalize the ballot order by Aug. 22 to ensure that we get some ballots before early voting for the Northern Islands begins and to be able to mail out absentee ballots, so our absentee voters have ample time to return those ballots.”
During the meeting, CEC board member Jesus Sablan informed his colleagues that his daughter-in-law, Yvette Sablan, is an independent House candidate in Precinct 1. He is not a voter for that precinct.
“I don’t have any conflict,” Jesus Sablan said. “Also, we are not certifying what we reviewed. We are certifying what the CEC staff need to ascertain, that all candidates are qualified,” he added.
Rota special election
Igitol also reported to the board the result of the 2024 special election for Rota’s Board of Education representative.
“Early voting was conducted and concluded last week. It was a smooth election with very low voter turnout,” she said. “For early voting, we had 15 voters and on Election Day we had 12 who cast their vote. So, in total, 27 ballots were cast for the 2024 special election. The unopposed candidate, Daniel Quitugua, was able to garner 26 votes. There was one blank ballot. The results were certified the same night after the polls closed on Aug. 14.”
The vacancy was announced following the resignation of former Board of Education Chairman Herman Atalig in June. Atalig’s four-year term would have ended in January 2025.
