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‘Election integrity bill is good for the CNMI’
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Posted on Jul 08 2019
House Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao (R-Saipan) said he absolutely agrees with the legislation co-sponsored by Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) that aims to secure America’s federal elections. The bill recently passed the U.S. House of the Representatives.
Attao said the bill will give the CNMI access to some federal grants that will assist in the election process.
Sablan earlier said the SAFE Act that he co-sponsored contains his long-expressed goal to include the CNMI in the definition of “state” under the Help America Vote Act, and makes the CNMI eligible for several new grants to ensure the integrity of elections nationwide and in the Marianas.
Sablan said passage of the SAFE Act and the inclusion of the CNMI in Help America Vote Act is especially timely, given the recent report by the Office of the Public Auditor that there are problems with the integrity of the 2018 elections.
Attao said he was aware of the OPA report that determined that the Commonwealth Election Commission failed to account for all the ballots during the November 2018 general election.
“That’s very discouraging and kind of sad to hear or know something like that,” Attao said.
With the passage of the SAFE Act in the U.S. Congress, Attao hopes it can help CEC properly carry out elections in the CNMI.
Attao stated, however, that it is to CEC’s credit that they did improve during the last special election as per OPA’s findings.
OPA found that CEC could not properly account for the number of ballots available, used and unused during the 2018 general election, but also determined that CEC improved in its processes over ballot accountability during the March 23, 2019 special election.
