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Election Office will be open half-day on Memorial Day

Chief Election Officer Soliai Tuipine has decided to open the Election Office in Tafuna for a half-day on Monday, Memorial Day, which is a local and federal government holiday,

The office will open from 8:a.m to 12 noon “due to the high volume of unregistered and purged voters,” said Soliai yesterday. “Eligible voters that have not been able to register because of work hours and other commitments— here is your chance to come in and register.”

Also, those with expired voter identification cards or cards that will expire before the Nov. 6, 2012 general election, can come in to process their new voter ID, said Soliai.

Voter registration requires the person to provide the green birth certificate (which is issued by the ASG Office of Vital Statistics), a Social Security Card and a government issued ID, or valid U.S. passport, if you don’t have your green birth certificate, according to the Election Office.

If the person wants to change “personal information” such as a name, the Election Office requires the individual to provide a marriage certificate, divorce decree, matai registration or change of name affidavit.

The last day to register to vote is by 4p.m. Oct. 9 and Soliai urges all people who are qualified to vote and have not done so, to “register now to vote in the 2012 general election.” adding, “It’s your right.”

The Election Office announced late last year that more than 1,000 names had been purged from the voter rolls following the 2010 generation election and these individuals were informed by letter that they need to re-register.

Under current election law, a voter who does not vote in two consecutive elections will have their name purged from the election roll and that person will be required to register again.

However, another provision of the law which went into effect more than a year ago and was adopted through federal law, allows those in the military and college students whose names were purged to re-register online through the Election Office website. [www.americansamoaelectionoffice.org]

Also on the same website, there is a section called “Voter Status”, and this page is intended for use by the individual voter to determine his or voter registration status. This page asks for personal information, such as name, address, village and e-mail address. The Election Office will provide a reply in a timely manner.

Soliai encourages local and off island residents seeking information about American Samoa’s election to check out the election office website.