By The Star Staff
The Court of First Instance, in response to a request from New Progressive Party (NPP) Electoral Commissioner Aníbal Vega Borges, has reaffirmed that the voter has the right to decide where to receive his or her ballots when requesting early voting or absentee voting.
In his ruling, Judge Raúl A. Candelario López said that after examining the facts and the law, as well as the Absentee and Early Voting Regulations for the 2024 Primary and General Elections, it is the voter and not the State Elections Commission (SEC) that is the one to “… choose the postal address to which he wishes the ballots to be mailed. In fact, interpreting otherwise would imply contravening the clear precepts of the Electoral Code and its applicable regulations.”
The judge also emphasized that Section 4.4 of the 2024 Primary and 2024 General Election Absentee and Early Voting Regulations expressly provides that “… the paper form to request early voting must include, among other elements, the ‘mailing address where I would receive my ballot by mail.’” This provision, along with Section 9.35 of the Election Code, establishes that the form to request absentee voting must contain, among other data, “the complete mailing address of the place where you would receive your ballots by mail if that is the method you selected for your Absentee Vote” (16 LPRA sec. 4735).
The judge also referred to Article 9.38 of the Electoral Code, which similarly indicates that the form to request early voting must include, among other details, “the complete postal address of the place where you would receive your ballots by mail if that were the method you selected for your Early Vote” (16 LPRA sec. 4738).
The legal reasoning presented by Candelario López supports the NPP position on the rights of the voter. Understanding that it is not necessary to proceed to judge the questions presented on their merits, the court issued an order dismissing the appeal for review presented, but not before having indicated the legal norms that must govern the processing of the applications for absentee vote and early vote by the SEC for the 2024 general elections.
According to the arguments cited in the judicial determination, Alternate SEC Chairwoman Jéssika Padilla Rivera, in her amended resolution, indicated that “… the postal address determines only one thing, the place where the correspondence will arrive to a specific recipient” and that “the postal address that is written in a request is just that, a postal address.” Likewise, the SEC official clarified that it is the duty of the SEC to ensure that the voter will receive his or her ballots safely and without equivocation in his or her postal mail. Hence, in section 4 of the amended resolution, it was clarified that the Permanent Registration Board/Temporary Registration Boards (JIP/JIT) officer can only correct grammatical and/or numerical errors in the postal address provided by the voter in the application for early or absentee voting, but cannot change their voting address.
“The above does not interfere with the right of the voter to choose the postal address to which they wish the ballots to be sent,” the judge said.
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