Tinian mayor sues for vote recount

Tinian Mayor Ramon M. Dela Cruz, who lost his re-election bid, is suing Tinian mayor-elect Joey P. San Nicolas and the CNMI Commonwealth Election Commission to force a recount of the ballots and, if necessary, hold another election for Tinian mayor.

Ramon M. Dela Cruz

Dela Cruz said he filed the lawsuit in the CNMI Superior Court yesterday on behalf of the people of Tinian to “seek a recount, to assure the voters of the sanctity and efficacy of their votes, and, if necessary, to void the election results and cause a new election to be conducted.”

Attorney Mark B. Hanson is representing Dela Cruz.

In his lawsuit, Dela Cruz said the ballots cast on Tinian during the Nov. 4 election and the early votes cast on Tinian were tabulated first on Tinian. He said the vote tally from the preliminary tabulation for mayor of Tinian and Aguiguan was 446 votes for Dela Cruz, 348 votes for San Nicolas, and 23 votes David Cing.

Dela Cruz stated that it was observed prior to the ballots being sent to Saipan that there were 23 unreadable ballots, six ballots with over votes of some type, and one ballot that was blank.

“Apparently, after Tinian ballots were transmitted to Saipan for the ‘official count,’ the Election Commission retabulated the Tinian ballots and incorporated early voting ballots not cast on Tinian and absentee votes in the election,” Dela Cruz stated.

He claims the unofficial tabulation for the Tinian ballots (not including the absentee and early votes cast other than on Tinian) was 455 votes for Dela Cruz, 358 votes for San Nicolas, and 23 votes for David Cing—a difference of 19 votes from the preliminary Tinian tabulation.

“We went to bed on election night with the unofficial results showing we had won another landslide election among the people of Tinian,” Dela Cruz said. “Then, when we woke up in the morning, we were told that we had lost by seven votes due to off-island votes. Then began the phone calls from outraged voters. Over the next few days, more and more voters came forward to tell us about irregularities in the election and asking me to take the issue to court.”

Dela Cruz said one irregularity was the discrepancy between the votes cast tabulated on Tinian and the tabulation on Saipan. There were possibly 10 votes for Tinian mayor race not counted by the Election Commission from ballots physically cast on Tinian, he said.

Dela Cruz claims that the Election Commission allowed seven Republican Party supporters to cast votes in the Tinian election despite the fact that those seven Republic Party supporters were “serving a sentence for a felony.”

Dela Cruz also accused the Election Commission of tampering with a number of ballots cast on Tinian, making permanent indications of votes on original ballots.

“The Election Commission failed to follow proper procedures prescribed by statute and regulations for the counting of and preservation of ballots that the voting machine could not read,” he said.

He said he wants to ensure that the election process was conducted fairly and in accordance with the law so as to protect the integrity of the democratic process and to ensure that the results reflect the choice of the people of Tinian.

“Therefore, I filed the case on their behalf,” he said.

He said that among the major complaints that voters had were the failure to properly handle voters who were mailed absentee ballots but voted in person anyway, and allowing people to vote who were not legally eligible to vote because they were on parole resulting from a felony conviction.

“All we are asking is that the court review the Tinian election to ensure that the candidate chosen by the people in a fair election is declared the winner. Should the decision go against us, we will of course respect that decision,” Dela Cruz said.

“At least, this case should provide adequate data for the Election Commission board and the Legislature to make appropriate changes to the election law to ensure that these problems do not mar future elections,” he added.