BOE certifies poll results • Final tally overturns initial results for Rota Board of Education By MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN

The final tally of votes from the Nov. 6 elections, including the more than 200 absentee ballots tabulated Friday, did not change the preliminary poll results except for the Board of Education race in Rota. BOE Chairman Miguel M. Sablan certified the final results Friday.

Of the 424 absentee ballots received by the Board of Elections, only 236 were counted as “good ballots,” while 188, or 44 percent of the total number, were rejected as “bad ballots.” (See related story)

A recount of ballots from Rota overturned the preliminary result of the education board election in favor of incumbent member Marja Lee Taitano.

Initial results released by BOE-Rota showed write-in candidate Juanita Mundo Taisacan leading by a margin of 12 votes. She had 345 votes against Taitano’s 333.

But in the final count, Taisacan’s votes went down to 328, while Taitano’s increased to 349, including the absentee votes.

BOE Executive Director Gregorio Sablan explained that the board’s central office decided to recount the ballots because of disputes over Taisacan’s identity.

A total of 128 initially counted in favor of Taisacan were thrown out “due to technicalities,” Sablan said.

“What we did was ask around to find out if there’s another ‘Juanita Taisacan’ or ‘Juanita Mundo’ registered in Rota,” Sablan said. “Our review of the names in the registered list showed that she’s the only Juanita Mundo Taisacan in Rota.”

However, Sablan said, the board has decided to consider only the “full legal name” of Taisacan as her valid identity.

“We decided that the names to be counted were Juanita Taisacan, Juanita M. Taisacan, and Juanita Mundo,” Sablan said.

Sablan said some voters wrote “Juanet Taisacan” which is not her “full legal name.”

In an interview with reporters, Taisacan said she was also informed that other ballots were not properly filled in. She said some voters who wrote her name did not mark the box for the write-in entry.

The general poll results for the political positions remain the same as the preliminary release.

The dislodged Republican incumbents got more votes from off-island voters, but the numbers were not enough to alter the overall results. (See official list)

Republican Sen. Juan P. “Morgen” Tenorio’s 106 additional votes from off-island didn’t help him recoup against his rival, Reform Party’s Ramon S. “Kumoi” Guerrero.

Guerrero garnered only 81 off-island votes, but maintained his lead by 450 votes. He got a total of 4,420 votes against Tenorio’s 3,970.