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Last batch of absentee ballots arriving on Nov. 17
It cost CEC $27K to charter boat to get 7 votes from Northern Islands
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Posted on Nov 04 2020
The last batch of absentee ballots will be arriving at the U.S. Postal Office in Chalan Kanoa on Nov. 17, according to Commonwealth Election Commission administrative officer Kayla Igitol yesterday.
This means that CEC’s tabulation of votes is still going to be unofficial until Nov. 17, Igitol said in an interview with Saipan Tribune.
Igitol said, however, that if the last batch of absentee ballots will not make a difference, CEC will move forward and certify the results of the count. “But we got to see what the outcome is tonight,” she said.
The administrative officer said they picked up over 900 envelopes of absentee ballots and placed them in six boxes last Saturday. She said each envelope contains one or more ballots because some families share an envelope.
CEC staff picked up absentee ballots twice yesterday from the postal office.
As of Oct. 26, there were 1,625 absentee voters.
Meanwhile, the ship that went out Friday to the Northern Islands to pick up seven votes was expected to arrive last night, Tuesday.
Igitol said it was supposed to get 10 votes, but she believes that three residents went back to Saipan.
She said there are three voters each on Alamagan and Agrigan, and one on Pagan.
Igitol said it cost CEC $27,000 to charter the boat to pick up the seven votes.
She said the last time they used a helicopter to get votes from the Northern Islands was in the 2009 election.
She said the helicopter is not possible this time as there is a fuel issue in the Northern Islands as its fuel station was damaged a few years ago.
