RAYMOND Borja Quitugua said he would neither drink nor eat for the entire day, Wednesday, April 27, to protest the lack of a write-in option in CNMI elections.
He staged his one-man protest action across from the Commonwealth Election Commission on Wednesday.
He believes that CEC is “disregarding” his constitutional rights as a CNMI voter.
Quitugua said he lived in the states for quite a while, and was upset to find out that write-in votes are no longer allowed in CNMI elections.
He believes that it is the citizens’ constitutional right to elect whomever they want.
“Who are they to tell me that I cannot write in the name of the person who I believe deserves my vote of confidence even if that person’s name is not on the ballot?” he asked.
He said CNMI voters who don’t like any of the three gubernatorial candidates in this year’s election must be given the right to elect another person.
Quitugua said write-in voting is allowed in many states, adding that Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina were successful write-in candidates.
“So today I’m going on a hunger strike because it’s my civil right as a constituent here in the CNMI and as a voter to support a write-in candidate,” Quitugua said.
“I would not allow any entity such as the election board, which is supposed to protect my rights as a voter, to tell me something different from what I know.”
He said he believes the CNMI Constitution allows him to vote for a write-in candidate.
Raymond Borja Quitugua holds a CNMI flag while staging a protest across from the Commonwealth Election Commission office in Susupe on Wednesday.
