Ballot design approved

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - The Guam Election Commission's board of directors reconvened Wednesday evening, approving the final ballot design for the September 1 Primary Election. The meeting was called after issues surfaced last weekend regarding how to place independent candidates on the primary ballot. The issue was quickly resolved as lawmakers passed legislation reconfiguring the ballot and eventually was signed into law by Governor Eddie Calvo on Tuesday.

The ballot design had to be approved in order to send out primary ballots under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act by July 18 (45 days before the primary). During Wednesday evening's meeting, board members discussed making the ballot design and instructions as simple as possible to avoid spoiled ballots. In the primary election for Decision 2010, there were about 4,800 crossover votes.

The design of the ballot includes placing the Democrats on the first column on the far left, the Republicans in the second column and the independent candidate on the third and far right column, all separated by a solid line and each with one line for a write-in candidate.  

Meanwhile, the board changed the wording on the ballot in order to ensure that no crossover voting would take place. The new instructions read: "Your votes for all offices on both sides of the ballot must be in one column - A, B or C. Fill in the oval next to the candidate of your choice or your write-in. your votes will not be counted if you vote in more than one column anywhere on the ballot." 

Meanwhile, the board discussed the stipulated order filed by the GEC and the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights voting section that came about because local law has yet passed to remedy past violations of federal law. The local government has yet to comply with the mandates of a federal lawsuit that was filed during the 2010 election relative to UOCAVA requirements. Board members discussed challenges in sending out a separate ballot electronically for the federal position namely the congressional race along with the local ballot for UOCAVA voters.   

Moving forward, the GEC is still in need of precinct officials to aid in the upcoming election noting only 150 have signed up to fill a total of 290 spots. The board also received a letter from incumbent public auditor Doris Flores Brooks requesting lawmakers to cancel her election in the primary because she would be the sole candidate. Board member Chris Carillo suggested asking the Guam Legislature to call session to take immediate action on the issue. 

The board will meet again later this month.