CNMI delegate says every citizen has right to vote

6:30 pm on 10 October 2017

The Northern Marianas' delegate to Washington, Gregorio Sablan, says he is vehemently opposed to US government plans to strip previous state residents of the right to vote in presidential elections.

US Congress Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan has introduced a bipartisan bill to ban the shark fin trade across the United States.

Gregorio Sablan Photo: USDA/Lance Cheung.

Currently, if you live in the Northern Mariana Islands but used to live in a state in the US mainland, you have a right to vote for the president by absentee ballot.

However, that law does not extend to citizens residing in the four US territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands.

The US Department of Justice is now reviewing this law with the intent of reversing this voting privilege rather than expanding it to all citizens in the four territories.

Sablan said he disagreed fully with the law's repeal because he believes every US citizen should have the right to vote for the president.