Republicans dominate independents

With a slogan to deliver on their promises and backed by a well-oiled political machinery, CNMI Republican Party candidates dominated this year’s general election, with all their three candidates winning Senate seats and 15 bets edging 18 rivals for House of Representatives seats, according to the Commonwealth Election Commission’s partial and unofficial tabulation results.

U.S. Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP), who ran unopposed for a fifth term, garnered a total of 9,417 votes.

The overall number of votes totaled 10,993, excluding the 984 absentee ballots that CEC received on Tuesday. Out of the 17,930 registered voters, over 5,000 voted early. The only ballots to be counted on Nov. 22 are the absentee votes, which could possibly affect those having close edges over their rivals such as the Rota Senate position. CEC sent 1,700 absentee ballots but received on Tuesday only 984 ballots.

Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho received tremendous support by receiving 8,165 “yes” votes and 2,343 “no” votes for his retention on the bench—a 77.7 percent approval.

In a statement yesterday, Camacho said he is humbled by the overwhelming vote of approval by CNMI voters. He extended his appreciation to everyone for their vote of confidence.

“With the utmost humility, I reaffirm my oath to support and defend the Constitution and laws of the CNMI, and to continue to work hard and be worthy of the trust and confidence of the CNMI people,” Camacho said.

In the battle for the Saipan senatorial district, Sen. Sixto Kaipat Igisomar (Rep) had a landslide victory over his lone opponent, former senator Ray Naraja Yumul (Ind), by garnering 2,645 votes. Yumul got 1,181 votes.

For the Tinian and Aguiguan senatorial positions, Senate President Francisco Manglona Borja (Rep) got 533 votes while his rival, Henry Hofschneider San Nicolas (Ind), got 407.

For Rota senatorial seat, Rota Municipal Council chair George Ogo Hocog (Rep) edged veteran senator Paul A. Manglona with just six votes, 378-372. Thomas Lee Atalig Manglona (Dem) received 234 votes.

In the battle for the House Saipan seats, Republicans dominated the race.

In Precinct 1, out of six GOP bets, only Rep. Antonio P. Sablan did not make it to the magic six. Rep. Edwin Kenneth Propst (Ind) came out on top with 1,945 votes.

All five GOP candidates prevailed—Rep. Angel Aldan Demapan, Rep. Joseph Leepan Tenorio Guerrero, Rep. Joseph Pinaula Deleon Guerrero, Janet Ulloa Maratita, and Gregorio Muna Sablan Jr.

For House Precinct 2, Reps. John Paul Palacios Sablan and Rafael Sablan Demapan, both GOPs, got the first and second slots, respectively. Vicente Aldan Ichihara (Ind) was 132 votes behind Demapan.

For House Precinct 3, press secretary Ivan Alafanso Blanco (Rep.) emerged the top vote-getter with 1,209 votes. The other five who made it to the magic six were Rep. Blas Jonathan “BJ” Tenorio Attao (Ind), Rep. Edmund Joseph Sablan Villagomez (Ind), Donald Cabrera Barcinas (Rep), Francisco Santos Dela Cruz (Rep), and Jose Ilo Itibus (Rep).

For House Precinct 4, Rep. Vinzon Edward Flores Sablan (Ind) came on top with 714 votes followed by Alice Santos Igitol (Rep) with 576 votes. Rep. George Norita Camacho (Rep) landed on third place with 501 votes.

For House Precinct 5, Rep. Lorenzo Iglecias Deleon Guerrero (Ind) came first with 805 votes, followed by Francisco Concepcion Aguon who got 788 votes. Antonio Reyes Agulto (Rep) landed on third place.

For the House Tinian seat, Edwin Palacios Aldan (Rep) got 501 votes, while his rival, Diana Hocog Borja, got 438.

For the House Rota seat, Glenn Lizama Maratita (Rep) got 580 votes, while his opponent, Tricia Marie Atalig Manglona (Dem) received 392 votes.

For the Municipal Council-Saipan and Northern Islands, Luis John Deleon Guerrero Castro got a whopping 5,750 votes, while Diego Litulumar Kaipat received 4,003 votes.

For Municipal Council-Tinian and Aguiguan, Phillip Thomas Mendiola-Long got 505 votes, followed by Reynaldo Mendiola Cing, with 496, and Edwin Manglona Hofschneider with 493.

For Municipal Council-Rota, Antonio Wayne Barcinas got 751 votes, followed by Kary John Ramos with 675, and Ivan Mereb Jr. with 579.

For Board of Education-Saipan seats, Janice Marie Ada Tenorio came first with 4,436 votes, followed by Marylou Seman Ada with 3,516. Andrew Lujan Orsini came third with 3,120.

For Board of Education-Rota, Herman Manglona Atalig got 572, while his rival, Dexter Peter Apatang, received 387.

As of 10pm on Tuesday, CEC officials and staff were still preparing the over 5,000 early ballots for tabulation at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe. After a few minutes, ballots from Rota came. Ballots from Tinian arrived at 11:10pm.

As of 12:20am Wednesday, tabulation of early votes had yet to be completed as the counting machine jammed due to many correction stickers on some ballots.

CEC legal counsel assistant attorney general Michael Witry said the CEC uses corrections stickers on ballots when there are stray marks or if the machine wasn’t able to read the ballots but it is obvious to the commission what the voter intended to do.

“If we use too many correction stickers on the ballot the machine jams,” Witry explained.

In those cases, he said, they do not feed those into the machine and that they have Sablan produce an exact duplicate ballot that will be fed into the machine.

“The original ballot will be marked as not fed into the machine,” he said.

The remedy, Witry said, is to produce an exact duplicate ballot.

“We’re producing a duplicate. We hold on to the original with the big X mark to indicate that we won’t put it into the machine,” he added.

At 1:15am Wednesday, Sablan announced that counting of early votes on Saipan had already been completed but they would proceed with the tabulation of early ballots on Tinian and Rota. She said CEC staff would release the results of Saipan early votes on CEC’s website.

Sablan said they want to include the counting of Tinian and Rota’s early votes in their announcement because they want to give the entire summary to the media.

“We changed our strategy on how we reconcile so it’s faster,” the chair said.

CEC executive director Julita A. Villagomez read the first tabulation results of early votes at 2:30am. After that, tabulation went smoothly. Villagomez read the last results at about 4:30am.

In an interview after the tabulation, Sablan expressed frustration with delays in the tabulation.

“Although we try to put and change our laws, amended them, we try to make sure we have the best machinery that our money can buy, and the technicians, and try to have a full board, although it’s not 100 percent full but at least we have a quorum, there is always some setback. And that’s the frustration that I face,” Sablan said.

Sablan said the more she hopes that they would have a speedier process in tabulation there is always something that either delays them or sets them back.

“What I am alluding to is whenever we try out a different interpretation, follow different authorities’ perspective and their interpretation. It’s difficult for me as the chairwoman to have to keep on changing,” she said.

Sablan said she knows it’s frustrating for the community because she believes that, as the CEC chairwoman for 20 years, there has to be some stability, progress.

“But there is always something that comes out, new people to work with, new commissioners, new executive director, and different interpretations,” she said.

Sablan said the rejection part of ballots is prevalent when they start processing the absentees, where some voters do not follow instructions.

She estimated that the budget for this year’s election is $100,000.