Tomorrow is when the results of the November 8 midterm elections will be official.
As of this morning, there have been no challenges filed with the Election Office, says Deputy Chief election Officer Fiti Tavai.
The deadline to file challenges is 4:30pm tomorrow.
The Election Office uses the number of votes cast for the Congressional election to record voter turn out.
The number of voters who cast ballots was 6,637, out of 14,313 registered voters. That represents 46% of the voter roll.
In the 2020 general election 11,861 voters cast ballots.
Tavai said, the voter turnout, last Tuesday, was one of the lowest turnouts in any election.
In related news, KHJ News asked the Director of the 2022 Constitutional Convention, Tapaau Dan Aga, regarding the next steps for the proposed constitutional amendments which were approved last Tuesday.
He explained that according to the constitution, the approved proposals are to be submitted to the Secretary of Interior. “If you consider that the last time the constitution was amended was in 1979, and the law changed in 1983, and no amendments have been passed since then, the next steps are in a way ‘unchartered territory,’” Tapaau pointed out.
He said, the time frame for the amendments to be sent to the Interior Secretary may be in 30 days, although he hasn’t found any language limiting the time.
For now, Tapaau said that he’s taking a close look at the referendum numbers.
The five proposed amendments which voters approved would:
- Give the Swains faipule a vote in the House of Representatives;
- Provide an impeachment process of the Governor and Lt. Governor in the constitution;
- Change the name Government of American Samoa to American Samoa Government;
- Change the name Mauputasi to Maoputasi;
- Change the name Leasina to Leasina ma Aitulagi.
