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Write-in candidate beats Marja Lee By MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN
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Posted on Nov 10 1999
A write-in candidate for the Board of Education has unseated the incumbent board member for Rota, Marja Lee Taitano, according to partial results of last Saturday’s elections.
Partial returns show Juanita M. Taisacan leading over Taitano by 12 votes.
According to the Board of Elections’ unofficial tally, Taisacan has garnered 345 votes, and Taitano, 333.
The elections board has yet to tally 409 ballots from absentee-voters. Election officials did not say how many off-island voters were Rota-registered.
BOE Executive Director Gregorio Sablan said the elections board would certify Taisacan as the winner if the final tally showed the same result.
CNMI voters are allowed by law to write the name of a person that they want to put in an elective position even though that person is not an official candidate.
Taitano was the only certified Rota candidate for the education board. The two other prospective candidates, Dolores Mundo and Daniel Quitugua, were dropped from the roll because of their failure to file their nominating petitions on time.
In the 1995 general elections, Taitano and Mundo fought for the education board seat. Results of the elections were contested in the court, which eventually declared Taitano as the winner. She won over Mundo by only one vote.
The Board of Education is composed of two members from Saipan, one member from Rota, and appointed representatives from the community, including a student, a teacher, and a parent.
Each elected board member has a four-year term.
