Late release of Midterm Election results not caused by ‘recounts’

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The many ballots counted for the Constitutional referendum, resulted in the long delay in getting the final count from the polling stations in Leone and Nu’uuli during the Nov. 08 Midterm Election, according to the Election Office.

Based on information from various sources during the wee-hours of Nov. 09, Samoa News reported last week Wednesday that results for Representative District #12- Ituau at the Nu’uuli polling station was delayed due to a recount. And this was the same for Representative District #13- Fofo (Leone). 

However, deputy election officer Fiti Tavai told Samoa News that there was “no recount” for these two districts — as reported in the Nov. 09 Samoa News edition.  And he provided an explanation behind the delay in the results being called in to the Election Office on the morning of Nov. 09.

“According to both Team leaders from Nu’uuli and Leone, there were too many referendums to count,” Tavai said early this week. “We sent 4 more workers to Nu’uuli to speed up the process. About 3 a.m [on Nov. 09], Nu’uuli was finished.”

“For Leone, they didn't request assistance like Nu’uuli. However, they kept on taking breaks. We received their results around 5 a.m [on Nov. 09],” he explained.

Results from the 41 polling stations territory-wide were called into the Election Office, where it was reviewed by the Chief Election Officer, before it was publicly released thereafter. The final unofficial results were released by the Election Office after 6 a.m on Nov. 09.

The “unofficial” results of the 2022 Midterm Election show five new faipule elected into the local House, while Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata — who ran unopposed — returns to Washington. For the Constitutional referendum, five out of the eleven proposed amendments were approved. Also, there were no women elected into the local House this time around, including incumbent Rep. Andra Samoa.