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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Puerto Rico’s Election Commission said on Tuesday it had discovered more than 100 briefcases containing countless numbers of ballots a week after the U.S. territory held its general election, sparking criticism and contempt of voters who now question the validity of the results of certain races.
Francisco Rosado, the commission’s new chairman, said the briefcases were found in a secure safe and blamed the situation on what he said was an underfunded and understaffed administrative council tasked with count a record number of absentees and early votes.
“We have identified, to our great regret, a disorganization in the handling of equipment in the safes,” he said at a press conference. “Lost. Badly organized. We have to admit it.
Rosado said he did not yet know the total number of votes in the 126 cases, noting that some contained three ballots and others 500 ballots. Officials initially said there were 182 briefcases, but then revised the number.
“Every vote will be counted,” he said. “I have to tell the Puerto Rican people to trust the transparency of the process.”
The discovery is the latest misstep of a commission that botched the island’s primaries so badly in August that a second ballot took place, an unprecedented situation that led the former commission chairman to resign a month later. Then the commission was criticized for taking a record four days after the November 3 general election to finalize the count of almost all the votes, for announcing on Tuesday that it had discovered more briefcases. Traditionally, the commission publishes the final vote count on election night.
Roberto Iván Aponte, electoral commissioner for the Independence Party of Puerto Rico, said in a telephone interview that he expects all votes inside the newly discovered suitcases to be counted by Thursday at the latest. . He said the votes could affect races like that of the mayor of Culebra, a popular tourist island just east of Puerto Rico. The mayor-elect won only by two votes, according to preliminary results.
Aponte and other officials attribute the ongoing problems to a new law that Governor Wanda Vázquez approved in June just two months before the primary that led to several changes, including easing restrictions on absentees and voting anticipated and elimination of departments and senior election commission positions, which led to the departure of long-time officials. This year Puerto Rico received more than 220,000 absent and early votes, a record for officials who have been overwhelmed by paperwork.
Aponte warned that the commission’s lingering problems cast doubt among voters.
“After these elections, there must be a serious assessment of how these votes will be handled,” he said, referring to postal and advance votes.
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