This weekend the Guam Election Cycle for 2014 hits its
first major event with the Primary Election on Saturday. From 7:00am to 8:00pm Guam
Time, the polls will be opened across the island allowing the electorate to
place their Democrat or Republican candidate for public office on the ballot
for the November General Election.
49,110 residents are registered to vote in the 2014
Primary and General Elections.
The voter numbers this year are the lowest since
1992. That mid-term election drew just
34,856 voters to the polls. At 74.7%,
the 1992 Elections were far from the lowest voter turnout in Guam's modern
election history. The 2004 mid-terms saw
just 66.8% of the registered voters
across the 58 precincts cast a ballot.
But this is a gubernatorial election year. Following the 1998 General Election that saw
the re-election of Democratic Governor Carl T.C. Gutierrez, voter turnout slid
into the 70th percentile over the past three elections. Despite a record 61,052
registering to vote in 2002, over 16,000 people did not make it to vote that
year. Since 1970 and the first election
for Guam Governor, island residents came out in droves to let their ballot
count for the Chief Executive with those eight consecutive cycles seeing
turnout in the 80th percentile-the highest being 88.2% that led to the
inauguration of Guam first elected Governor Carlos G. Camacho.
Times surely have changed. And it appears that apathy has and continues
to grow.
Why?
Some
thoughts place the blame squarely on the backs of the local media. With good
news abound for the incumbent, then why change a good thing? Other pundits
charge that the Guam Election Commission has done a poor job in getting out the
word on the vote-the tired ways of motivating the electorate seems to be
dominating discussions around the table of the GEC and its members. A number of
analysts are not looking at these numbers closely and are opining that there
are other factors hindering growth of the electorate and getting them to
exercise their rights as U.S. Citizens.
Economics, locally legislated government holidays and a lack of modern
election technology are the culprits.
What does this all mean for the 2014 Elections?
There is a strong chance that history can repeat
itself as the campaign dialogue shifts after the Primary Election. It will be
an election placing "Record vs. Record". Two Governors in a head to head battle to
paint the other as a better alternative, whose leadership skills we all need to
move Guam forward into the next decade. Will
there be a new Legislative Majority? Can a once appointed Attorney General beat
an incumbent AG with crime rates at its highest in a decade? Will the
Consolidated Commission on Utilities see a new Chairman as utility rates are on the rise?
Get out and vote.
It is your right. But before you cast a ballot, talk to the candidates
to understand their vision. Talk to your
families to understand how this election cycle will affect them and how they
feel each has done to help advance our Island Guam.