THE Commonwealth Election Commission announced the unofficial results of the gubernatorial election after receiving the final batch of absentee ballots on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022.
Of the 458 absentee ballots tabulated at the multi-purpose center on Friday, 258 were cast for the Independent ticket of Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, and 200 were for the Republican tandem of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and Senate Floor Leader Vinnie F. Sablan.
On runoff election night, Nov. 25, Palacios-Apatang garnered 138 absentee votes while Torres-Sablan received 140.
Palacios-Apatang received a total of 396 (53.8%) absentee votes while Torres-Sablan obtained 340 (46.2%).
After Friday’s count, Palacios-Apatang had the won the election with 7,335 votes or 54.12% of the 13,552 cast in the gubernatorial runoff election while Torres-Sablan secured 6,217 votes, or 45.88%.
“We’re closing out this election,” Commonwealth Election Commission Executive Director Kayla S. Igitol told reporters on Friday evening.
“The board will need to certify the results, but they won’t be certified tonight. Probably by next week,” she added.
As for the overall gubernatorial runoff election process, Igitol said, “It went smoothly, but there were a lot of challenges that we faced, but other than that, I think everything went pretty much the way it was supposed to.”
CEC staff assisted the board in verifying absentee ballot envelopes that were received, ensuring that absentee requests and affidavits matched before presenting the envelopes to the election board.
The election board then pulled out ballots from their envelopes, removed affidavits from the ballots, then opened the envelopes to retrieve the ballots before counting each ballot. The entire process was closely watched by Deputy Attorney General Lillian A. Tenorio and a representative from the Office of the Public Auditor.
The election commissioners also had to verify the numbers before Igitol announced the unofficial results.
Igitol said they received a total of 859 absentee ballots on Friday. However, roughly 115 of these ballots were not postmarked, and 190 were postmarked after the Nov. 25 deadline. These ballots were not included in the final count.
She said the board has already made a decision on 78 provisional ballots, but an official notice will be issued at a later date.
Based on the unofficial results Friday, Palacios-Apatang garnered 3,219 early votes; 3,720 election day votes; and 396 absentee votes for a total of 7,335 votes.
Torres-Sablan received 3,698 early votes; 2,179 election day votes; and 340 absentee votes for a total of 6,217 votes.
According to the CEC website, there are a total of 19,275 registered CNMI voters.
Commonwealth Election Commission Executive Director Kayla S. Igitol, center, and staff members sort through the last batch of absentee ballots late Friday afternoon at the Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center.
NMI Republican Party President Candace Celis, Independent poll watcher Peter P. Reyes and Palacios-Apatang campaign chairman Oscar M. Babauta were the poll observers on Friday.
Election board chair Jesus I. Sablan speaks to vice chair Esther Yatar, center, and election commissioner Dorisann Aldan-Atalig, right.
Election board chair Jesus I. Sablan pulls out absentee ballots from a box, before handing stacks to each of the election commissioners.
Election board chair Jesus I. Sablan hands stacks of absentee ballots to commissioners John Diego Attao and Lelanie I. Manglona.
Election board chair Jesus I. Sablan observes each of the election commissioners’ work.
Election commissioners process absentee ballots with Deputy Attorney General Lillian A. Tenorio close by.
NMI Republican Party President Candace Celis and Independent poll observer Pete P. Reyes converse while ballots are tabulated.
Election commissioners and Deputy Attorney General Lillian A. Tenorio verify the final count.
Commonwealth Election Commission Executive Director Kayla S. Igitol makes an announcement.
