Guam

Articles about voting issues in Guam.

Bordallo, party differ on election investigation | Pacific Daily News

Apr 132012
Bordallo

Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo said she will consider a request that she ask federal authorities about the status of an election irregularities complaint. Bordallo yesterday released her statement after Democratic Majority Leader Rory Respicio announced that Bordallo responded “positively to the party’s request for a congressional investigation.” The Democratic Party complaint stems from former Gov. Carl Gutierrez’s loss to Republican Gov. Eddie Calvo in the 2010 General Election. Respicio’s statement described Bordallo as having committed to a congressional investigation “into the allegations of voter fraud and electioneering in the Guam Election Commission’s own findings of illegalities and irregularities surrounding the 2010 election.”  Read More »

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Guam Comments Off Topics: Carl Gutierrez, Eddie Calvo, election commission, Madeleine Bordallo, Rory Respicio

Members of Election Commission, senators gather for hearing on election reform bill | Pacific Daily News

Apr 122012

A day before Democrat senators hope to override the governor’s veto of Bill 413, which would rewrite Guam’s election laws, a hearing was held on election reform. Gov. Eddie Calvo vetoed the election reform bill. The Democratic leadership in the Guam Legislature pushed for the election reform legislation, and added a provision to audit the ballots from the 2010 gubernatorial race. Read More »

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Guam Comments Off Topics: Carl Gutierrez, Eddie Calvo, election reform, Rory Respicio

Rodriguez wants election reform meeting | KUAM.com-KUAM News: On Air. Online. On Demand.

Apr 062012
Guam

With five months until the primary election, no consensus has been made regarding legislation to reform the island’s election process. However, the Committee on Election Reform has called a special meeting with hopes to discuss the importance of reforming the island’s election laws and how to move forward from the veto of Bill 413. KUAM News asked Senator Dennis Rodriguez Jr. if every time there’s an election in the future and allegations and irregularities arose, would we change the law, conduct an audit do a recount of the votes. He replied, “Yes, it should be, I think so. I think if there’s a valid complaint, if there’s valid reasons to go back and do an audit or do a recount I think that needs to be done and I think it’s been done in the past.” The chairman for the committee says although there’s an attempt to conduct an override on the vetoed Bill 413, he’s calling for a special meeting to see what needs to be done to further ensure our future elections are carried out “where its transparent and where people are not disenfranchised”. He added, “We have an election in five months and so a lot of the provisions in Bill 413 are good provisions that will facilitate the Guam Election Commission and how they carry out the election, so we need to address that. We just need to move forward and move pass this impasse.” Read More »

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Guam 1 Response » Topics: Carl Gutierrez, Dennis Rodriguez, Eddie Calvo, election reform

Governor Vetoes Election Reform Bill; Democrats May Try Override | Pacific News Center

Apr 032012

As promised, Governor Eddie Calvo has vetoed election reform bill 413. The governor cited provisions in the bill that call for a recount of the 2010 election as his reason for vetoing it saying that these provisions are a continuation of “mischief” caused by the Guttierez camp during the election. Meanwhile the Democratic Party’s Executive Director Carlo Branch called it ironic that the governor would veto the measure on a day he himself has deemed as transparency day.  Governor Eddie Calvo vetoed the election reform bill or bill 413 last Tuesday but the legislature has yet to receive an official veto transmittal. The governor says that he vetoed the bill because of the provisions that call for an audit of all absentee and provisional ballots cast something he says amounts to an attempted recount of an election that has already been certified. Read More »

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Guam Comments Off Topics: audit, Eddie Calvo, provisional ballot, transparency

Governor plans veto of Election Reform Bill | KUAM.com

Mar 232012

It may be back to the drawing board for the Guam Legislature and the Guam Election Commission, as Governor Eddie Calvo says he plans to veto Bill 413. Lawmakers had previously passed the Election Reform Bill 8-6, straight down party lines. In an interview with KUAM News today, the island’s chief executive said the 2010 election is over and implied the bill was orchestrated by his former Democratic opponent , former governor Carl Gutierrez. Gutierrez ran with former Senator Frank Aguon, Jr. The two filed a lawsuit challenging the results and Guam Election Commission’s handling of the election process claiming it was rife with discrepancies.  Read More »

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Guam Comments Off Topics: Carl Gutierrez, Eddie Calvo, election reform, Rory Respicio

Guam and Saipan Make Tempting Targets for Delegate-Hungry GOP Candidates | The Daily Beast

Mar 122012

Until this week, the last time Guam and Saipan were fought over was during World War II. However, as the GOP presidential primary season goes on and on and on and on, the caucuses held on Guam and Saipan, the main island of the Northern Mariana Islands, will loom surprisingly large. Because of the strange delegate math the GOP uses, these relatively unpopulated islands in the middle of Pacific Ocean will combine to send six more delegates to the Republican convention in Tampa as the crucial early state of New Hampshire. This normally would make for a quirky factoid, paired with the fact that Guam is apparently home to the world’s largest Kmart, or that Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, took off from the Northern Marianas. But the increasingly fraught nature of the Republican race means that their presidential caucuses tomorrow will actually matter. Read More »

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Guam, Northern Mariana Islands Comments Off Topics: caucus, delegates, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum

Romney Wins GOP Caucus In US Territory Of Guam | Fox News

Mar 102012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney picked up nine more delegates Saturday, winning unanimous backing at the Guam GOP convention. Republicans on the tiny Pacific island decided to shun traditional paper ballots and all 215 eligible to vote at the convention backed Romney with a show of hands. Though Guam’s Republican National Convention delegates are technically uncommitted all nine had pledged to vote for the candidate chosen at the state convention, said Jerry Crisostomo, convention co-chair. Read More »

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Guam Comments Off Topics: caucus, delegates, Mitt Romney

Lawsuit filed against Guam Election Commission | KUAM News

Nov 222011

The Guam Election Commission may be headed to court as a non-profit public interest law firm is filing suit, alleging racial discrimination due to the upcoming vote to determine Guam’s future political status. While a series of meetings and workshops on the process of decolonization were a positive step forward in Guam’s quest for self-determination, a civil suit filed by an island resident who isn’t eligible to vote could bring the process to a standstill.

The Center for Individual Rights – a non-profit public interest law firm based in our nation’s capitol, is taking the GEC and its commissioners to court. On behalf of Guam resident Arnold Davis, the CIR alleges racial discrimination after he was not allowed to register for the plebiscite because he didn’t meet the definition of a native inhabitant of Guam. Read More »

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Guam Comments Off Topics: election commission, racial discrimination

Election Commission looks at Guam plebiscite | Pacific Daily News

Jul 152011

The Guam Election Commission commissioners gave themselves homework at the end of last night’s regular meeting — to read sections of Guam law and analyze the exact meaning of language on the political status plebiscite.

The assignment came in response to a discussion on Bill 154, which proposes changes to current law regarding the political status vote, and which prompted larger questions about the content and intent of current law as it relates to the plebiscite.

Guam law requires that the island’s native inhabitants vote on the three political status options — statehood, independence or free association with the United States. Read More »

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Guam Comments Off Topics: citizenship, enfranchisement, voter registration

Election Reform Advisory Group to help craft legislation in Guam | Pacific Daily News

May 182011

The Committee on Election Reform is convening an Election Reform Advisory Group for the purpose of examining Guam’s election laws to craft legislation that will help to ensure elections are efficient, fair, and reliable.

“During the last three General Elections, and a couple of primaries, we have repeatedly seen a wide ranging list of allegations and legal challenges relative to questionable or improper conduct. Despite collective cries of outrage, the underlying issues have, tragically, left many with a resigned acquiescence that all our election results are suspect – and will continue to be,” said Sen. Dennis Rodriguez Jr. in a press release. Read More »

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Early in-office voting, machines debated in Guam | Pacific Daily News

May 032011

Lawmakers yesterday debated two bills that could affect future island elections — ending the recently approved process for early in-office voting and paving the way for the return of controversial electronic voting machines. Lawmakers debated another election bill by Respicio, which would allow for the use of electronic voting machines, provided the machines print a “voter-verified paper ballot” which the voter can double-check before placing into a ballot box.

Respicio in 2006 wrote a law banning the use of electronic voting machines until several conditions are met, including training and safeguards for accuracy. The Election Commission spent nearly half a million dollars in federal election assistance funding to buy 116 Ivotronic electronic voting machines, according to Pacific Daily News files. Read More »

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Guam Comments Off Topics: early voting, Uncategorized, voter verified paper audit trail

Respicio Bill Would Permit VVPB Electronic Voting in Guam | Pacific News Center

Mar 312011

Senator Rory Respicio has introduced an election reform bill that would permit electronic voting using machine that are capable of producing “voter verified paper ballots” [VVPB]. Following the 2006 election Senator Respicio was the sponsor of a Bill banned electronic voting which eventually became Public Law 128-31.

In a release, Respicio explained he drafted that Bill because of the many problems with electronic voting during the 2006 election. “Those Ivotronic machines,” says Respicio, “stored votes electronically, so they could easily be hacked or lose their data.” The old machines did not provide paper receipts that could be hand counted or audited.

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Guam Comments Off Topics: voter verified paper audit trail
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