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Youth voters’ group meets with Kilili
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP, who is running for re-election this November, met Saturday night with voter awareness group Maximum Impact Leading Excellence, or MILE CNMI, at his campaign office in Gualo Rai.
The group got a glimpse into the work life of the delegate, and what he does as a non-voting representative of the CNMI in Congress.
“We didn’t understand that it takes a lot of people, a lot of time, and a lot of effort [to get things done]. Now we understand better,” group organizer Irene Tantiado said in an interview.
She described the meeting as “very fruitful,” with Sablan talking of topics close to the young voters’ hearts like immigration reform and minimum wage, for example.
She said the group is still open to meeting with the other candidate for delegate, Andrew Salas.
Sablan actually asked the group to meet with Salas as a requirement for their meeting with him, according to Tantiado.
“If [Salas] still wants to meet with us, he can email me and we’ll make sure to meet,” she said.
In an interview yesterday, Tantiado said the group has decided to officially endorse Sablan but are still debating if they would officially endorse a gubernatorial candidate.
They have met with gubernatorial candidates the last few months and, with a month left until the elections, they are looking to push hard at getting the youth to vote, according to Tantiado.
She said the group finds it very frustrating to find during outreach that people who are registered to vote are either unsure or not interested in voting this November.
The group in its next meeting on Friday will have this issue on the table, according to Tantiado, with possible offers of transportation during the election or stronger outreach at the college as some actions they may plan.
“It’s not enough to ask them to register. The bigger problem is how to encourage them to go out and vote,” she said.
Also in the works this month is a poll to see who people will vote for governor.
Tantiado said there are still working on the poll’s format but will try to target more than 500 people during the survey.
