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7-day early voting starts today
The Commonwealth Election Commission is all set for the seven-day early voting that will kick off today, Tuesday, for Saipan, Tinian, Rota.
CEC executive director Robert A. Guerrero said yesterday they are prepared to open at 8:30am today and entertain voters who would come in to vote.
He said Tinian and Rota voting booths will open at the same time.
For Saipan, early voting will be at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe, while Tinian and Rota will have it at their respective Department of Public Safety buildings.
Early voting for about nine or 10 registered voters who are actually living in the Northern Islands started last Sept. 20. But since no boat from Saipan has yet to go to Pagan, Alamagan, and other islands where the voters are, CEC has yet to facilitate their voting.
Northern Islands voters who are currently on Saipan may cast their early vote on Saipan starting today.
Guerrero said they are proceeding as they normally would until such time there is an order from the court for re-coding of ballots.
“We’re anticipating getting a lot of early voters this election,” Guerrero added.
Early voting will be done every day starting today until Nov. 3, from 8:30am to 4pm. The early voting concept started in 2010.
Guerrero earlier said that people who want to vote early don’t have to show any documents to support their reason for doing so.
He said the law says if voters feel like they’re not going to be able to go to polling places on election day for certain reasons like medical or personal business, they can vote early.
As of Oct. 14, 2014, the number of registered voters has already reach 17,986, the highest in the CNMI history.
Of the 19,986 registered voters, 1,658 are from Tinian, 1,797 are from Rota, and 165 are from Northern Islands. The remaining voters are from Saipan.
On Saipan, the largest number of voters is from Election District I: San Antonio, San Vicente, and Koblerville. There are about 4,889 registered voters in these areas.
