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CEC sees more people voting early
7-day early voting to kicks off Oct. 28
The Commonwealth Election Commission expects more people to vote early this year, according to CEC executive director Robert A. Guerrero.
In an interview last week, Guerrero said early voting starts seven days before the Nov. 4 election day—from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3—every day from 8:30am to 4pm.
On Saipan, early voting will be at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Building in Susupe, while on Tinian and Rota, it will be at their respective Department of Public Safety buildings, Guerrero said.
Early voting for about nine or 10 registered voters in the Northern Islands started last Sept. 20 but since no boat from Saipan has gone to Pagan, Alamagan, and other islands where the voters are, CEC has yet to facilitate their voting.
Guerrero said early voting for Northern Islands voters who are currently on Saipan will also begin on Oct. 28.
The early voting concept started in 2010, but it was actually in the last election of 2012 when a lot of people chose to vote early because they’ve learned how it works.
“That’s why we’re anticipating more people [go for early voting] this year,” Guerrero said. “It really helps.”
The executive director said some people prefer not to go to polling places on election day to avoid being intimidated or that they just don’t want crowds at polling places.
Guerrero said people who are sick also prefer early voting.
“The intent here is for people to vote,” he said.
Guerrero said people who want to vote early don’t have to show any documents to support their reasons for doing so. The law says if voters feel that they will not to be able to go to polling places on election day for reasons like medical or personal business, they can do early voting.
“The law says ‘in the conduct of personal business,’” said Guerrero, adding that early voters don’t need to show documents because the law says “if they feel.”
He said if a voter is from Tinian or Rota and he or she is currently on Saipan and could not go back to Tinian or Rota on election day, then he or she can do early voting on Saipan.
For Rota, about a third of their voting population or 33 percent or 600-plus are absentee voters, Guerrero said. Half of the remaining Rota voters prefer early voting because they are on Saipan.
