Runoff turnout at only 66.77 percent

Commonwealth Election Commission board chair Frances M. Sablan has expressed disappointment with the rejection of many absentee ballots as well as the low turnout in the gubernatorial runoff race.

According to official CEC Nov. 21 runoff election results, 12,010 people voted out of 17,986 registered voters, translating to a 66.77-percent voter turnout.

The official CEC election results for the Nov. 4 general polls showed that out of 17,986 registered voters, a total of 13,798 voted, indicating a 76.72-percent turnout.

There were 959 absentee votes counted for the runoff, while 2,280 absentee votes were counted for the general elections.

In an interview shortly after the counting of absentee ballots last Friday, CEC chair Sablan disclosed that there were 515 good absentee ballots but 276 others were not counted because they were either not postmarked, they couldn’t read the postmarks, or had no affidavits.

Sablan said a third or 34 percent of the rejected ballots were mostly because of lack of postmarks.

“So we need to find out now whether we need to re-educate our voters to make sure that when they bring it to the post office, they just don’t drop it. They make sure that it’s stamped,” she said.

Sablan places that responsibility on the absentee voters because they’re the only ones who can do this.

“Take ownership of it and actually do something about it,” she urged voters.

Sablan said the bottom line is, if voters really feel it’s important, they should prioritize it and then make sure that they make sure it’s stamped.

“I’m kind of disappointed with the numbers that were not counted because of that reason,” the CEC chair said.

Sablan said she personally got phone calls from friends and relatives that they are really eager and anxious to receive their absentee ballots but they did not receive them on time.

CEC started sorting and examining the absentee ballots as soon as they picked up the ballots from the post office Friday at 4pm.

Sablan said they completed the counting process four hours from the time the ballots came in at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center.

With respect to absentee ballots, CEC executive director Robert A. Guerrero estimated the turnout at only a little over 50 percent.

Guerrero said CEC does everything set by the law and there is nothing they can do for anything that goes beyond what is mailed.

“I don’t think that the post office here is at fault,” said Guerrero, citing that the problem is national because there’s a lot of shipping going on at this time of the year.

He said it just unfortunate that the runoff election happened within this time of the year.

Guerrero said until the Legislature changes the law or a constitutional remedy is done, there is really not much the CEC can do.

Guerrero said CEC has a plan of re-analyzing the election statute and the Constitution and make recommendations to the Legislature.

For the low runoff election turnout, Guerrero said he believes that there are fewer voters because there were only two candidates compared to the many candidates in the general elections.