“One of the reasons why we chose to reinforce the rule that commissioners be the tabulators is to safeguard the fairness of every election,” Sablan told Variety.
This is the first time in about a decade that the commission will be counting the ballots manually instead of feeding them to programmed counting machines.
The commission said it doesn’t have enough funds to print ballots that can be read mechanically.
Some voters fear the ballots may be tampered to favor certain candidates, but Sablan said it’s not going to happen.
“The votes will be counted honestly and fairly,” she said.
Ballots from Tinian and Rota were flown just before 10 p.m. yesterday.
Those from the inhabited Northern Islands were collected earlier and brought here by a rented helicopter.
Ballots from different precincts on Saipan were turned in to the commission one after another starting at 7 p.m.
Sablan convened the commission at the multi-purpose center in Susupe shortly after midnight.
Votes from seven precincts were counted for the nine delegate candidates vying for the lone CNMI seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The commission expects to complete its manual counting today but the winner will be proclaimed only after the absentee ballots are counted on Nov. 18.
Good turnout
More than 5,000 registered voters cast their ballots around noon and the commission expected their number to go up at the end of the day.
Many who are employed in the private sector cast their votes after working hours because yesterday was not a mandatory holiday for them.
The CNMI had a total of 12,947 registered voters and 1,112 absentee voters.
Streets near the polling centers teemed with supporters of the nine delegate candidates to make a last-minute campaign.
The commission said except for a few complaints about campaign materials, the election was generally peaceful.
Sablan and some commissioners roamed around Saipan to get first-hand information about the voter turnout and the situation at the polling centers.
More than 1,200 voters showed up at San Antonio and San Vicente Elementary Schools before noon.
At Koblerville Elementary School, 445 voters showed up around the same time and 536 at the Municipal Council Office which covered Precinct 2.
More than 2,200 voters at the same time cast their ballots at Garapan Elementary School, the designated polling place for Precinct 3.
Close to a thousand voters also showed up before noon at the Kagman Community Center.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, who lives in Gualo Rai, cast his vote at Garapan Elementary School.
In a statement, he said this delegate election is crucial to the future of the islands’ relationship with Washington, D.C.
He pledged to work with whoever is declared the elected delegate.
“The people of the commonwealth will elect a delegate to represent them, not the federal government, in Washington, D.C. I believe this delegate should protect the rights of the people under the Covenant. And among those rights are the right to local self-government and the right to a progressively higher standard of living for our commonwealth,” he said.
“Although I had long supported the establishment of a non-voting delegate for the CNMI, I wish this issue was treated separately from the federalization law; I had hoped that we would have received a delegate before the federalization of our local labor laws,” he added.
