In recent weeks, there has been some confusion when it comes to the ballots for the primary election races. First, independent candidates could not be on the ballot as Guam law had previously divided the ballot between Republicans and Democrats (ostensibly in an effort to reduce cross-over voting..which is usually quite high during primary elections in the past). The Guam Legislature immediately sought to address this and passed a bill which allowed independent candidates to now be on the ballot. Secondly. there was a strong effort to cancel the Public Auditor primary (as only ONE candidate...the incumbent, was running). However the Guam Election Commission could not unilaterally change the ballot to reflect this.
It is our opinion here at 671Politics that primaries are an "inter-party" affair only. Independent candidates should be allowed to automatically advance to the General Election ballot. We believe that the word INDEPENDENT is an umbrella word that encompasses political beliefs spread across the political spectrum, so grouping an independent candidate (or candidates) together in a primary ballot is ridiculous. Requiring that an independent candidate (A). compete in a primary (when he/she has no political opponents on the independent line) and (B). receiving a minimum number of votes in order to advance to the general election completely ignores the harsh reality that the absolute majority of registered voters on Guam are neither Democratic or Republican.
While it may be too late to act on this issue this election year (With the primary less than a month and a half away), it is important to eventually take a good look at this.
