Tuesday’s General Election had the lowest turnout rate of any gubernatorial election in Guam’s history, according to election data.

The Guam Election Commission recorded 37,131 ballots out of an eligible 51,975 registered voters, which is a participation rate of more than 71 percent, according to unofficial polling results published after the tally.

The actual number of voters who participated in the election was the lowest in 28 years of gubernatorial elections. In the 1980s, however, there also were fewer registered voters, which boosted the overall participation rate.

Tuesday night’s numbers correspond with August’s Primary Election, which was the lowest on record for a gubernatorial primary here.

In that election, 44 percent of 49,110 registered voters cast ballots.

The rate also corresponds with an overall drop in the number of registered voters. According to election data, fewer people were registered to vote in Tuesday night’s election than any gubernatorial election since 1990.

Guam Election Commission Executive Director Maria Pangelinan said the drop in voter turnout could be related to a lack of interest from young Guamanians.

“Young people are not getting registered,” she said.

Pangelinan said the island needs to find ways to make elections “more palatable” to young voters, so they come out to the polls. She said though that she was impressed by campaigns’ usage of social media and technology to share their message.

She also suggested a policy that would put a voter registrar in the island’s high schools and higher education campuses to improve turnout among youth.

Pangelinan said she knows of professors who send their students to register and give extra credit for getting friends registered.

The best way to tackle voter turnout as a whole would be to start looking at the island’s total population and working inward to target those who are eligible to register and vote, she said.

Pangelinan also noted that turnout isn’t necessarily an islandwide issue.

For example, she said, Hagåtña had a much higher turnout, closer to 80 percent of registered voters.
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Hopes this helps. See you at the Fest.
Peter

Barrett-Anderson, like Calvo, took to her Facebook page to thank her supporters. “We must recognize the enormity of the task presented by this election and the responsibility to honor each vote through hard work and intelligent leadership in the coming years,” Barrett-Anderson posted. “Thank you to all the 23,000-plus voters who gave me their personal approval.”

Barrett-Anderson also acknowledged Rapadas’ supporters and said she looks forward to working with Rapadas and the Office of Attorney General to make for a smooth transition.

Democrat Bordallo surpassed Republican candidate Margaret Metcalfe in the delegate race and will serve her 13th and 14th year as Guam’s representative in the U.S. Congress. GEC results showed Bordallo received 5,684 more votes than Metcalfe, with Bordallo getting 20,550 votes and Metcalfe receiving 14,866.
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Imagine of almost 100,000 eligible voters only about 36,000 bothered to vote and that was the largest turn out in decades. Why because they came to vote on the marijuana issue. And unless they stick around in future votes the politicians will water down or ignore their wishes.

It will be like what happened in the mainland. The democratic candidates distanced themselves from Obama, they didn’t want him campaigning for them. They allowed the republicans to paint his accomplishments as not good for the nation. They did not run on the better economy he gave them, they did not run on the ObamaCare he gave them, they did not run on the lower gas prices he gave them because of his alternate energy policy support, etc, etc.

Instead they refused to say they voted for him. The result was they didn’t motivate their people who voted for Obama to come and and they didn’t motivate ANY of the voters that were going to vote color to change their minds.

If the McConnel’s opponent had stood up proudly and said YES I voted for Obama and I am proud of it she would have motivated those in her state to come out but she didn’t do that instead she appealed to the bigots to just take the issues and decide. They did as the scorpion did on the back of the frog. They voted against their own best interested because as the scorpion said when he stung the from and they both began to drown.

“That is what scorpions do.” So the democratic politicians should have learned that – That is what racists do, they vote color even if it is not in their best interest. So let the mainland drown in their own vile juices.

I doubt the democrats have learned anything.

The Guam public’s resounding vote in favour of allowing the use of medical marijuana may be all for nothing according the Department of Public Health and Social Services.
More than 56 percent of those who voted in the referendum this week said yes to medical marijuana.

The Director of the Department of Public Health James Gillan, says this is partly because of island’s traditional use of herbal medicines and the ineffectiveness of prescription drugs.
“Some of the attempts to continue to treat people in the stateside medical model get very expensive. And when there appears to be no hope why not use something that’s cheaper and perhaps helps with the pain management and with, sometimes with appetite increasing.”

James Gillan says the Department of Public Health now has one year to draw up all the regulations for the use of the drug in the territory.
But he also says it may all come to nothing as the territory may lack the power to adopt the relevant regulations.
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One could just give up.
Hafa adai