Torres to Ashcroft: Sue FEC

[Whoa_Nelly]

Torres to Ashcroft: Sue FEC

Story by Jayvee L. Vallejera
Assistant Editor

A senior lawmaker has asked U.S. Attorney General John Aschroft to file a case against the Federal Election Commission and related agencies to compel them to implement relevant laws so that U.S. mainlanders here in the CNMI can participate in U.S. general elections.

Rep. William S. Torres told Ashcroft and Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta that overseas Americans may have been denied their right to vote in federal elections under the Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 1986 for the simple reason that the CNMI is inadvertently excluded from the Help America Vote Act.

"I am officially requesting for the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Attorney General to initiate an enforcement lawsuit in a proper federal court against the FEC.in order to bring into compliance those agencies with the intent and requirements of ," said Torres in his Oct. 12 letter to the two officials.

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Torres, who chairs the House Committee on U.S. and Foreign Affairs, cited the recent introduction of H.R. 1619 at the U.S. House of Representatives, which underscored the need to ensure that overseas U.S. citizens are properly accounted for and allowed to participate in US general elections for president, vice president, senators, and congressmen.


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