8 Nov 2006

American Samoa voters go to the polls

10:45 am on 8 November 2006

Residents of American Samoa go to the polls today to vote for the territory's non voting delegate to Congress and 19 of the 21 memebrs of the local House of Representatives.

Just after four this morning, ballot boxes were transported under police escort from the Election Office in Utulei to polling booths across to the main island Tutuila.

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The ballot boxes for Manua were flown there yesterday morning.

Deputy Chief Election Commissioner Laulu Filivaa Mageo gave election staff final reminders to ensure a smooth and incident free election.

"The first thing is ID cards. Make sure the voters have an ID card and make sure the ID cards match the names on the list. Second how to conduct themselves in the case of a challenged voter and also of the provisional voter list which is only for the Congress"

The Deputy Commissioner also reminded them to ensure that the candidates knew exactly the boundaries that applied to them.

Just over 15,000 voters are expected to vote in the election