Commonwealth Election Commission holds last meeting before midterm

The Commonwealth Election Commission Board met for the last time on Monday before the November 5th midterm election.

A majority of CEC board members voted to maintain a machine count of the ballots after CEC board member Remedio Sablan requested that the votes be tabulated by hand due to community concerns from last year’s election. 

However, Executive Director Kayla Igitol clarified that tabulating the votes with a machine is more cost effective and maintains the integrity of the election. 

Igitol also provided the latest update to the board ahead of early voting for Rota, Tinian, and Saipan, which begins on Oct. 29.

“We have received a total of 1,005 absentee requests and all absentee ballots have been mailed out. We are still processing over-the-counter absentee requests daily. to date, we have received 113 over-the-counter requests, bringing our total absentee ballots to 1,118,” said Igitol. 

CEC also reminds voters that an absentee ballot must be received by the commission no later than Nov. 5 to be counted.  

Meanwhile, board member Sablan has also recused herself because her daughter is a candidate. She will not be participating in the 2024 election process, including tabulation and certification of results.