Guam, as you are

Obama wins Guam; nation forgets island even exists

Posted by Kate Sheppard at 10:02 AM on 05 May 2008

Read more about: Barack Obama | presidential race 08 | politics | news | Muckraker

Muckraker: Grist on Politics Weekend election update: Barack Obama won the tiny island territory of Guam by seven votes on Saturday, with 2,264 to Hillary Clinton's 2,257. They'll split the four delegates alloted in this primary evenly.

More importantly though, doesn't anyone else wonder why Guamanians get to vote in the primary but not the general?

For story: Guam, as you are
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Just seven votes!

I do indeed wonder why the territories vote in the primaries, but not in the general election. Is it because the Party does not want to look too imperialistic? But if the voters in VI, Guam and PR are not supposed to get to vote for president, what difference does it make, which candidate they prefer? ...

Also, I naively assumed that Obama was going to receive 100% of the votes, what with his Pacific connexions -- but what do I know?

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 11:50 AM on 05 May 2008

Well...

...Guam has less than 180,000 people. So if it did have a say in the elections, they'd be assignin' electoral votes to a place with a population less than that of D.C.

And since so many of the residents are military personnel and can vote anyway, and the majority of the remaining population are actually foreigners with dual citizenship. And since few people with dual citizenship vote in elections (since it may lead to sticky legal situations), there was really never much need to.

Notice how only slightly more than 5,000 of the island's nearly 180,000 people voted. With such a low turnout (due to both legal and social issues), there really isn't much sense in designating an electoral vote for the island.

by Tasermons Partner at 9:27 PM on 05 May 2008

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