‘Absentee ballots at mercy of USPS’

Commonwealth Election Commission executive director Robert Guerrero said that absentee ballots for the Nov. 21 runoff election reaching their final destination depends entirely now on the U.S. Postal Service.

Commonwealth Election Commission staff Jordan Mesa assists a voter during yesterday’s early voting for the 2014 gubernatorial election runoff at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe. (Mark Rabago)

“Absentee ballots were sent out in the 10th of November, which was exactly a week ago today. I just verified from the U.S. Post Office that the absentee ballots flew out on the 11th of November. Not much we can do to it. It’s now at the mercy of the U.S. Postal Service,” he told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

Guerrero said he’s baffled that even local absentee voters experienced a delay in receiving their absentee ballots.

“It’s kind of weird because even some people on Saipan got their ballots later than usual. Local absentee voters only got their ballots five days later. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for this and I’m not blaming the U.S. Postal Service. They’re probably overwhelmed or there are some issues on the flights or something. Some flights are cancelled so that might’ve something to do with it,” he said at the close of early voting yesterday at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.

For now, Guerrero said, absentee voters would just have to wait until their absentee ballots arrive in the mail.

“People just have to be patient and their ballots should be postmarked no later than the runoff election on Nov. 21 and we will receive it 14 days later on Dec. 5. So as long as you mail it out on the 21st of November, it should get here no later than the 5th of December.”

Early voting total nears 3K

Meanwhile, Guerrero said that after a torrid start in the first two days, early voting has slowed down a bit on Sunday and yesterday, Monday.

“Friday and Saturday were actually bigger as we were up in the 700 to 800 mark. Yesterday and today we’re down to the 500 mark. Voters are continually flowing in but not to the extent where people wait for a long time. We’ve opened up more booths and I think that helped reduce the people standing in line.”

CEC numbers show that a total of 2,900 have so far voted in the early voting throughout the CNMI. Of the figure, 2,661 are from Saipan, 84 are from Tinian, and 155 from Rota.

On Saipan, 814 voted on Friday, 751 on Saturday, and 526 and 570 on Sunday and Monday, respectively.

For Tinian, 29 voted on Monday, 13 on Saturday, 15 on Sunday, and 29 yesterday. On Rota, 64 cast their vote on Friday, 29 on Saturday, 25 on Sunday, and 37 yesterday.

Guerrero said CEC didn’t encounter any problem in the first four days of early voting.

“We don’t have any issues so far beyond the normal, like people who weren’t registered to vote. But we resolved it quickly here.”

As to when CEC can make the results of the 2014 gubernatorial runoff official, Guerrero said that because of the absentee ballots he’s looking at Dec. 5 as the earliest they can make the numbers official.

“We’ll be tabulating the absentee ballots on Dec. 5. The law requires us to pick up the ballots before the post office closes and tabulate it then, and barring any problems that may come up, we should certify all the ballots for the runoff that night or the following day. We won’t get official results until Dec. 5 because during the runoff the 14-day provision applies, unlike the general elections were there’s no provision on the 14-day delay in receiving absentee ballots.”

Guerrero said that CEC issued around 2,300 absentee ballots.

He reminded voters who want to vote ahead of the Nov. 21 runoff election about the schedule of early voting. “Early voting starts 8:30am until 4pm everyday since Friday all the way to Thursday, the day before the runoff elections.”

A couple of voters were seen knocking at the Multi-Purpose Center following the 4pm deadline.

During the Nov. 21 runoff, Guerrero said, polling places will open at 7am and close at 7pm. All polling places are the same for the general election and the runoff election.

“Make sure to bring an ID with you but if you don’t have your ID it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to vote. You can vote. You and just have to fill an affidavit of no ID and that’s a requirement by law and not something the election commission is just implementing.”

The Nov. 21 gubernatorial runoff election is between NMI Republican Party bet Gov. Eloy S. Inos and his running mate, Senate President Ralph DLG. Torres, and independent Heinz S. Hofschneider and his running mate, former Senate floor leader Ray N. Yumul.