by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - The Guam Election Commission met for the first time Wednesday since the Guam Legislature's recent override of Governor Eddie Calvo's veto of Bill 413 last week.

The measure, now public law 31-255, provides for election reform and includes a provision that would require an audit of the 2010 General Election.

During Wednesday's GEC meeting, commissioners had questions regarding the mandates of the law and ultimately assigned GEC legal counsel Jeff Cook to look further into the measure and review areas of what exactly is the definition of an audit, what are the consequences if the GEC does not meet the timeframe obligations and what exactly is the GEC supposed to carryout relative to certain sections in the bill.

For example, a section of the law requires that 45 days after enactment for the GEC to conduct an audit of the ballot stock. A 45-day timeline is also outlined in a separate section in the law regarding provisional ballots and absentee ballots and determining the impact of the results on the counts based on those findings. Additionally, a 30-day timeframe is outlined stating the GEC shall conduct an audit of all the results of the 2010 election.

The GEC questioned whether the 30 to 45 day timeframe is adequate enough to carry out the mandates. Commissioner Chris Carillo, who is employed with Vice Speaker BJ Cruz's office, was asked to follow-up with the Guam Legislature at the possibility of amending the law relative to extending the deadline or even deleting the deadline all together. GEC Executive Director Maria Pangelinan has also raised concerns whether her agency would have the funding to carry out the audit provision.

The GEC meanwhile also discussed Bill 361 which provides a mechanism to enhance the registration process of the Guam Decolonization Registry. The measure was signed into public law in early December. The GEC discussed putting together a plan by February 4, 2013 or 60 days after enactment along with implementing such plan by March 6 or 30 days thereafter.

The GEC will meet next year on January 3.