CEC likely to certify Inos-Torres as winner today

With the Commonwealth Election Commission counting tonight about 2,100 absentee ballots for the gubernatorial runoff race, it is likely to certify the result shortly thereafter showing the tandem of Republican standard-bearer Gov. Eloy S. Inos-Ralph DLG Torres as the winner over the independent Heinz Hofschneider-Ray N. Yumul team.

CEC executive director Robert Guerrero said yesterday that, barring any problems or legal issues, they will certify the election results shortly after the manual counting of absentee ballots.

“We’re just waiting for the time now,” Guerrero said when asked if CEC is prepared for today’s counting.

He said the plan is to pick up the ballots from the U.S. Postal Service at 3:30pm or before 4pm today as required by law.

Guerrero said the ballots will then be transported to the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe, where the manual counting will be held.

Guerrero said they have to verify first if the ballots are postmarked on or before the Nov. 21 runoff; if it is not, the ballots are going to be rejected.

He said there are other things they have to check such as making sure that the ballots are not tampered with and have proper affidavits and ballot envelopes.

He conceded that they expect a lesser turnout from absentee ballots compared to the general elections.

“Based on what we’ve been hearing, that a lot of people did not get the absentee ballots from the post office, then we may get fewer,” he said.

CEC mailed all the absentee ballots on Nov. 11.

Guerrero said he cannot respond to what happens in transit with the post office as they have no control over it.

“The law requires us to send the ballots out [via] first class mail,” he said.

Guerrero hopes to start the counting at 6pm.

With a commanding 1,599 lead, Inos-Torres is a sure winner as it is statistically improbable for Hofschneider-Yumul to overtake such a big lead.

CEC already counted some of the absentee ballots in which Inos-Torres easily won, 323-121.

Regarding absentee ballots at the Nov. 4 general elections, the official CEC results show that Inos-Torres came strong with 1,186 votes, while Hofschneider-Yumul got only 649 out of the 2,280 total votes.

Inos-Torres garnered a total of 6,342 votes, while the Hofschneider-Yumul came second with a total of 4,501 during the Nov. 4 four-way gubernatorial elections.

Inos-Torres’ 1,841 margin over Hofschneider-Yumul paved way for the second gubernatorial election in the CNMI last Nov. 21.