Supreme orders all the candidate’s votes to be counted by direct nomination in Guánica

He High Council This afternoon agreed with the decision of the San Juan Court of First Instance, which ruled that the votes should be counted by direct nomination for the candidate for mayor of Guánica by direct nomination, Edgardo Cruz Vélez, even though the voter has his name not spelled correctly. or did not check the box intended for direct nomination.

The highest judicial forum on the island assumes that the State Election Commission (CEE) must verify all data from the Guánica election contest to determine how many additional votes Cruz Vélez has by direct nomination, even if the voter did not place an X in the direct nomination box.

The CEE reported that at 9 a.m. this Thursday, the parties should call on their respective officials to carry out a recount of the Guánica electoral game.

In the race for mayor of Guánica, the EEC was the candidate for the People’s Democratic Party, Ismael “Titi” Rodríguez, the winner with only 52 votes. In fact, Rodríguez was sworn in yesterday after completing the transition process with the incumbent mayor, Santos Seda. Rodríguez was sworn in, although the Supreme Court decision had not yet taken place.

The Supreme Court ruling favored seven associate judges and one against Judge Rafael Martínez Torres.

“In the cases before our consideration, it is clear from the vote that the voter wanted to vote by means of direct nomination. There is no way to say that we are replacing the voter’s criteria when we give the vote to the person who wrote the voter on the ballot. “, reads the Supreme Court resolution written by Associate Justice Erick Kolthoff.

Associate judges Maite Oronoz, Luis Estrella and Mildred Pabón Charneco agreed. While the examining magistrate Ángel Colón Pérez gave a similar opinion.

The legal aid the Supreme Court saw was presented by Rodríguez, who asked for the annulment of a decision by Judge Anthony Cuevas, who decided that the EEC should grant Edgardo Cruz Vélez, candidate for Mayor of Guánica, the votes cast in his favor, despite the fact that the voter has not marked the rectangle of the box corresponding to the direct nomination with an X on the ballot.

Rodríguez thus contested the appeal initially filed before the Court of First Instance, which was exceptionally accepted by the Supreme Court without hearing the appeal.

Rodríguez argued in his lawsuit that a vote by direct nomination was only valid if the full name and valid trademark were in the corresponding box. This in view of the fact that the voter who handled an electronic counting machine was warned that his ballot was wrongly voted by not checking the box for direct nomination.

What the petitioner suggests is that this curia does not dare to interpret the voter’s ballot paper, to which the voter’s intention doctrine is limited, but his intention when interacting with the counting machine. As we have already said, there could be several reasons why a voter might ignore the warning that the electronic counter is supposedly giving him about an alleged lack of vote. But what is truly transcendental is what he ultimately expressed in the vote, ”indicates the determination of the Supreme Court.