Ready, set, VOTE! Record-high voters register in CNMI

The Northern Mariana Islands is seeing a record number of voters registering to vote ahead of candidate filing next Monday.

"We have a big increase in our voter registration. Right now we are at 18,000. Last election we were at 17,000 or 16,000 so we are increasing in our voter registration," said Kayla Igitol, the executive director of the Commonwealth Election Commission. The record number comes before next Monday, July 11, which is the first day to submit candidate petitions. August 10 is the deadline to submit.

"A lot of people are coming out to be active in doing their civil duty in registering and in voting," she said.

Here’s what the Commonwealth Election Commission says you need to know. "I'd like the voters to come in and update their registration. If they moved to a different precinct, come in and update that. So we can transfer them to their current precinct. For new voters, when they come in they would need to bring a valid U.S. passport or a birth certificate. And the deadline for registration is September 9," she said.

And if you’re on Rota, the CEC is coming to you. "Tomorrow we are going to have a registration drive in Rota at the Rota Mayor’s Office from 9 in the morning to two. [We hope to] have our Rota voters come out and regiter while we are there," she said.

The NMI general election is slated for November 8.