CEC finds 85 ‘dual voters’

The Commonwealth Election Commission has found 85 registered voters who also appear to be voters outside of the CNMI such as Guam or in the United States mainland.

During a meeting on Friday, the CEC board of commissioners decided to hire a private counsel to serve as a hearing officer who will preside over voter removal proceedings and voter challenges.

If no funding is found to hire a private counsel, as a backup plan the CEC board voted commissioner Jesus I. Sablan (Saipan) as the hearing officer.

Meanwhile, CEC ordered 21,000 ballots for the Nov. 8 general election. There are 17,936 registered ballots, including 1,401 who applied for absentee ballots.

CEC paid $27,000 to the Election Systems and Software from Nebraska for costs on printing of the ballots, site support, ballot layout and ballot coding. The ballots are expected to arrive on Saipan by Tuesday.

CEC board chair Frances M. Sablan in an interview after the meeting said they come with a list of 71 “nonresident voters” or “dual voters” but executive director Julita A. Villagomez has clarified 69 because two are considered inactive.

“We are sending them a letter right now. We have a draft copy of it, letting them know that we found that their names seem to appear as voting in another…outside of the CNMI whether it’s Guam or the U.S.,” Sablan said.

Villagomez disclosed yesterday they learned that there are now 85 “nonresident voters” or “dual voters.”

The chair said there are others that they have not found yet to be possibly also “nonresident voters” so they are still in the process of verifying the election data.

Sablan said they are going to set on the letter a date Oct. 31, 2016 for the “nonresident voters” to call CEC and let the executive director know about their situation.

Sablan said executive director Villagomez or her designee will tell them about the hearing date.

Chair Sablan said if CEC does not find a funding for a private counsel nor can they find counsel, commissioner Jesus Sablan is the back up plan as he will be the hearing officer.

She said the hearing officer will actually hear and meet those “nonresident voters” personally or call to clarify because if they could be the persons that have the exact same names and everything.

Before the commissioners voted to appoint a hearing officer, CEC legal counsel assistant attorney general Michael Witry explained that CEC staff have to look at the people who requested absentee ballots and check the registration data base with registered data bases in other states to determine if they are registered there as well.

Witry said according to the Commonwealth law, if a person is registered to vote in another state, that person can’t be registered to vote in the Commonwealth.

Witry said under 1 CMC Section 6206, CEC shall remove names of registered voters from the registry if they are already registered voters in another jurisdiction.

Witry suggested how CEC should address the issue by sending them out with a letter that says “here is your absentee ballot that you requested. However you should be aware that we found someone we think is you in another state voter registration data base and we believe therefore that you should not be permitted to vote in our election.”

Witry said they will then be given a date by which they need to contact CEC to challenge the idea that they are actually not eligible to vote in the CNMI.

Witry recommended to appoint a lawyer to preside to hear evidence and make decision and if there is no money, appoint a CEC commissioner to hear the voter challenge.

The board agreed with Witry’s recommendations.

On the printing of ballots, chair Sablan said they usually order 20,000 ballots just in case some ballots are spoiled and they would replace them.

On the sending and arrival of absentee ballots, Sablan said hopefully Gov. Ralph DLG Torres will reprogram some money so that they can spend for the postage and handling in order for them to expedite sending of ballots and receiving them back. Sablan said rather than the regular postal stamps that means it would take a matter of two weeks, they want to expedite.

Sablan said if that’s not possible then she welcomes generally speaking without reading the actual bill, the extension that Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro (R-Saipan) is recommending in her bill. “But again I have to take a look at that,” she said.

On the payment to the Election Systems and Software, Sablan said fortunately, Gov. Torres has assisted CEC in expediting the payment and the contract through the Office of the Attorney General.

The Election Systems and Software requires 100 percent for payment of printing of ballots and other services.