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Tinian mayor-elect wants Dela Cruz suit dismissed
Tinian mayor-elect Joey Patrick San Nicolas has asked the Superior Court to junk Tinian Mayor Ramon M. Dela Cruz’s lawsuit that seeks to force a recount of the ballots for Tinian mayor.
In his response to Dela Cruz’s lawsuit, San Nicolas, through counsel Matthew T. Gregory, also asked the court to uphold the election results that showed him winning over the incumbent by seven votes.
San Nicolas also asked the court to direct the Commonwealth Election Commission to issue him a certificate of election as the new mayor of Tinian.
The mayor-elect demanded an award of court costs, expenses, fees, and attorney’s fees.
The election commission has already officially declared San Nicolas (GOP) as the winner of the Nov. 4 mayoral election by seven votes over Dela Cruz (Independent), 703 to 696 votes.
In his lawsuit, Dela Cruz, through counsel Mark B. Hanson, alleged several irregularities during the election, including a discrepancy between the votes cast for Tinian mayor tabulated on Tinian and the tabulation on Saipan of the votes physically cast on Tinian for Tinian mayor.
Hanson said there were possibly 10 votes for the Tinian mayor race that were not counted by CEC from the ballots physically cast on Tinian.
Hanson also claimed that CEC allowed seven Republican Party supporters to cast votes in the Tinian election despite the fact that those seven were “serving a sentence for a felony.”
In San Nicolas’ answer, Gregory denied any irregularities.
On the felon voters issue, Gregory said Dela Cruz was aware before the election of the identity of any alleged felon voters for Tinian through the roster of eligible voters, yet he failed to contest the eligibility of these voters.
