by Sabrina Salas Matanane, KUAM News Monday, September 08, 2008 Subscribe to Sabrina's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

Staff at the Guam Election Commission have a busy afternoon today. According to GEC Executive Director John Blas, he and his staff are hoping to begin manual tabulations of the write-in votes from Saturday’s primary election.

While it’s not clear just yet who they are, according to Blas prior to the election several individuals submitted how they want their names to appear in the write-in slot as well as four other variations of their names as allowed by GEC Board policy. Those individuals who submitted their names include: John Benavente, Maria Connelly, Dr. Vince Akimoto, Larry Ramirez and Tony Ada.

In order for these write-in candidates to move forward to the general election they must meet a threshold of 751 votes or 4% of the total ballots cast for that race, according to Blas. He added they are hoping to complete the tabulations as the board would like to certify the results during a meeting tentatively scheduled for this Thursday at four o’clock in the afternoon. Meanwhile if you would like to register to vote, you can do so at the GEC’s headquarters in Hagatna.

The last day to register is ten days before the General election on Tuesday, November 4. Blas however stresses that voters can not transfer between districts.