New Guam Election Commission program driving up voter registration

New voter registration is climbing by leaps and bounds every month now that the Guam Election Commission's motor voter registration program is up and running.
The program allows those who are getting a new driver's license or renewing an old one to register to vote, renew their voter registration and even transfer their voting district.
"In the past, before that, we would get 10, maybe 20 applicants, voter registrants a month," GEC Executive Director Maria Pangelinan said. "Now, we're getting 300, over 300 a month."
Guam's motor voter registration is modeled after similar programs in the states and it was fully implemented in April when DMV agreed to make voter registration forms part of the driver's license application.
The GEC is also using info gathered through DMV voter registration to reconcile the need for voter transfers. Pangelinan says the bottom line is - vote where you live.
"If you live in Dededo that's where you should vote," she said. "And so we're finding out that people who don't live in Umatac are voting in Umatac. Now we're hoping that these voters will be aware that now is a good time to transfer your voting district."
Pangelinan agrees that voters who cast ballots out of district may affect mayoral races in the 2020 elections, and she says her agency is working to encourage voter district transfers to minimize the challenging of voters at polling sites.
Meanwhile if you like to register to vote the old fashioned way, you can still register at your village mayor's office or at the GEC HQ in the GCIC building in Hagatna.