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Changes eyed in local voting process
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Posted on Feb 25 2005
More amendments are underway for the CNMI’s electoral procedure to reflect changes in the voters’ behavior and registration format.
The Commonwealth Election Commission is currently soliciting public comments on proposals to stop the use of ink stain as proof of voting and to change the ballot design.
In previous elections, polling place supervisors crossed off the name of each voter on the list after the voter has received a ballot. In addition, each voter was required to have their right index finger marked with indelible ink to show that he or she has already voted.
CEC executive director Gregorio Sablan said there is no need to use the ink stain during elections anymore, as enough safeguards are now in place to ensure that no voter casts a ballot more than once.
He noted that voters upon registration are required to provide their Social Security number, date of birth, and a document bearing their full legal name to guarantee that no person registers twice or more.
“If you can’t register twice, you can’t vote twice,” he said.
The Election Commission has also proposed a new ballot design, wherein names of candidates are organized by race or office, rather than in the current columnar format where names of candidates are listed according to political party.
“Voters no longer vote straight party lines. There are some who still do, but they are very few, so it’s not really practical anymore to list candidates’ names according to political party,” Sablan explained.
By changing the ballot design, the commission also hopes to address a problem encountered during the last election concerning “overvotes” or voters picking more candidates than the available slots in a particular office.
The new ballot design provides instructions informing voters of the number of offices to be filled in a particular position.
