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Palacios pleased with early voting turnout
Senate President Arnold I. Palacios (R-Saipan), left, listens as Commonwealth Elections Commission executive director Julita A. Villagomez gives some final instructions before he enters the polling place last Saturday at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center. (Jon Perez)
Senate President Arnold I. Palacios (R-Saipan) was impressed to see long lines of voters in the first five days of early voting at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center. He also chose to vote early last Saturday and was joined by his wife, Wella, and some members of the Palacios clan.
Palacios, who is the running mate of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, said they expected to see a lot of people vote over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) since there’s no work. “It looks like [early voting is] going to be a huge turnout. A lot of people will come out.”
“We’re going to see more before the elections [Tuesday] since Monday is a holiday. People are still going to vote. I’m not sure [Tuesday] is a holiday, unless people take an administrative leave,” he added.
As of Saturday, a total of 4,757 voters had already cast their early votes, based on the numbers provided by CEC.
“Those who are probably at work would come out during their lunch break or would take an hour off. We want to make sure families come out and do this today (Saturday). Since we’re going to be working Monday,” said Palacios, who added that he would still need to check on some of their friends to make sure they vote.
He said they expect that the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. would soon fix the power lines on Capital Hill, including the area near the Legislature and the Governor’s Office. “According to House Speaker [Rafael Demapan], we might get energized [Saturday] or [Sunday]. Some areas [on] Capital Hill already have power.”
“We’re going to get a skeletal staff. Other than that, I think probably we could go back to normal. We’ve got a plan to do something with the leadership this week; we’ll check with the members to see if we can do it or after the election.”
