Guamanian general election, 2004

The Guam general election of 2004 was held on 2 November. On the ballot were:

*The President and Vice president of the United States (Despite the fact that the territory possesses no Federal voice on the subject)
*All 15 seats in the Legislature of Guam
*The Federal delegate
*mayors of 14 cities:
**Agat
**Agana heights
**Asan-Maina
**Chalan Pago/Ordot
**Inanajan
**Mangilao
**Mongmong-Toto-Maite
**Piti
**Santa Rita
**Sinajana
**Talofofo
**Umatac
**Yona
*3 vice mayors:
**Dededo
**Agat
**Barrigada
*The Public Auditor of Guam
*The Consolidated Commission on Utilities
*Two judges of the Superior Court of Guam, running for retention
*The Guam Public Education Policy Board.

Background

In Guam, elections to the Legislature and multi-member boards are run via open primary (This following the outlawing of the previous blanket primaryref|BAN) similar to Louisiana.

Both the Public Auditorref|OPA and Consolidated Commission on Utilitiesref|CCU are required to be nonpartisan and as such candidates are not allowed to state affiliations or list them on the ballot.

In the case of the Auditor, affiliating with a party is grounds for disqualification.ref|OPA

Run up

The Guam Bar Association conducted an internal survey to determine feelings towards the two judges running for retention. Both were given strong marks of approval by the less than 100 members. Ref|GBA

During the run up, "Proposition A", the gaming/gabling legalization measure received significant coverage. A group called "Citizens for Economic Diversity" proponed it.

Results

Presidential

Despite not having any electoral votes, Guam approved of George W. Bush by 64% over John Kerry. Ralph Nader and Steve Badnarik both received less than one percent.

Delegate

Madeleine Bordallo, a Democrat, ran unopposed and kept her seat in the United States House of Representatives.

Initiatives

The only ballot initiative, 1, which was a proposal for legalized and controlled gambling,ref|E1 went down to defeat.

Legislature

30 candidates ran for 15 seats in the unicameral house (Both the Democratic and Republican parties nominated a full slate). Nine Republicans and six Democrats were election. Ray Tenorio was the top vote-getter with 4.92% or 21,656 votes out of 400 313 cast.

Auditor

Doris Floris was elected Auditor without opposition.

Utilities Commission

Thomas Ada and Gloria Nelson were election to the two seats on the Consolidated Commission on Utilities.

Judicial retention

Both judges standing for retention kept their seats by large majorities.

Education board

Elections for the Guam Education Policy Board suffered for a shortage of candidates: Only in the district of Luchan were there more running then returned (4, including write in, for two seats). In the other two 2 seat districts, the second had to be filled by write in, and in the 3 seat Lagu district, NO candidates were on the ballot, resulting in a 100% write-in return.

Mayors

10 Republican mayors were elected against 4 Democratic mayors and all 3 vice mayors. The vice mayor of Barrigada, June Blas was elected without opposition.

Close races

In the election to the legislature, the top 15 vote-getters are elected, and the remainder aren't. A recount was held due to the closeness of the vote counts of the critical 15th/16th candidates. As a result, Joanne Brown (Republican), an incumbent, pushed then Speaker Ben Pangelinan into 16th place with a two vote lead.ref|KUAM-15

References

* cite web
url=http://www.kuam.com/news/11392.aspx
title=Guam Bar Association surveys members about judicial retention
publisher=KUAM-TV
author=Zita Taintano
accessmonthday=December 3
accessyear=2006
* The official source for all returns is the Guam Election Commission, the official returns for 2004 are here: [http://www.guamelection.org/general04results.shtml Guam Election Results]
* cite web
url=http://www.ballot-access.org/2004/0701.html#5
title=Ballot Access News July 1, 2004
author=Richard Winger
accessmonthday=December 3
accessyear=2006
* cite web
url=http://www.guamopa.com/?pg=legislation#1903
title=Office of The Public Auditor - Guam - Enabling Legislation
accessmonthday=December 3
accessyear=2006
* cite web
url=http://www.ccuguam.com/PublicLaw26-076.htm
title=Public Law No. 26-76
accessmonthday=December 3
accessyear=2006
* cite web
url=http://www.guamelection.org/docs/Guam_Gaming_Initiative.pdf
title=An Act To Establish the Guam Casino Control Commission
format=PDF
accessmonthday=December 3
accessyear=2006
* cite web
url=http://www.kuam.com/news/11581.aspx
title=GEC completes recount: Brown beats Pangelinan by 2 votes for 15th seat
accessmonthday=December 3
accessyear=2006