Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The release last week by the Commerce Department’s Statistical and Analysis Division of the American Samoa 2020 Statistical Yearbook, which includes data from past elections, reaffirms what political observers and election officials have said in the past years on the low-voter turnout during non-gubernatorial election years.

And this is especially true following this year’s election.

For Nov. 08, 2022, Midterm Election — a non-gubernatorial election year — the total number of registered voters is 14,313, according to the Official Results document from the Election Office, but only 6,637 electors cast votes.

The Election Office uses the official results for the Congressional Race, which is a territory-wide election, for the overall number of electors who voted this year.

Since the official midterm election, many in the community have wondered as to past election data, especially the 2020 general election — the gubernatorial election year.

The election Section of the 2020 Statistical Yearbook points out that voter Registration dropped when comparing Gubernatorial Elections in the years 2016 and 2020.

A total of 16,341 voters were registered for the 2020 Gubernatorial Election, and although increased from the 2018 Election (a non-gubernatorial year), the official roll declined by 5% compared to the 2016 Gubernatorial Election.

“This pattern is seen in the past 20 years of territorial elections as much higher voter registration occurred in gubernatorial election years only,” the report says and noted that data in the yearbook is provided by the Election Office.

For the 2020 gubernatorial election, it recorded the highest voter turnout of the past four elections — 73.7% exercised their right to vote. It also says that Manu’a II, Saole, Alataua and Swain's voters all reported over 80% voter turnout.

The lowest turnout was Representative District No. 10- Ma’oputasi with 67.8%.

In 2020, the total number of registered voters was recorded at 16,341 — with 7,504 males and 8,837 females — but only 12,038 votes were cast in that gubernatorial election year.

The statistical yearbook provides data on election participation by Representative District and is further broken down by village, age, and gender of the voting population for the 2020 election year.

It also provides data for comparison by registered voters and votes casts — per Representative District — for election years 2014 to 2020.

Other election data in 2020 and previous election years are also published in the yearbook.

On background information, the statistical yearbook states that the 1994 General Election was the first election conducted with a new electronically processed Voter Registration System requiring a more scrutinized documents verification process of all registered and new voters.

The automation process took to the 1994 poll, two separate voter registration rolls for the old and the new system. As a result, the Election Rolls dropped from over 15,000 voters in the 1992 election to a little over 11,000 registered voters in the 1994 election.

Furthermore, the Voter Registration system maintained all electronically processed documents including Federal Post Card Applications (FPCA) for overseas military and college residents.

A section of interest for election provides data on registered voters, votes casts, and gender — who registered to vote — for election years 1992 to 2020.

DOC DIRECTOR MESSAGE

In releasing the 2020 Statistical Yearbook, Commerce Department director Petti T. Matila said the 38th Edition of the publication provides statistics and trends of demographic, social and economic characteristics of the territory from censuses, surveys and administrative records.

“I hope these data series on population, health, education, law enforcement, climate, land use, migration, trade, government finances, prices, employment, agriculture, utilities and national accounts, promote and perpetuate interest in the pursuit of happiness and wellbeing of the people of American Samoa,” Matila said in the message published in the yearbook.

She also says that the yearbook has been a long popular publication among local policymakers, business leaders and civic organizations. And the collection and analysis of the raw data summarized in the yearbook would not be possible without the cooperation of the many local and federal government agencies, private businesses and individuals.

“I hope that you will find this publication useful and informative for good governance, sound decision making and evidence-based planning,” she concluded.

Samoa News notes that data from this annual publication is used by other organizations off-island, seeking published information on American Samoa.

According to DOC, the yearbook will be made available electronically on its website (www.doc.as.gov) and those wishing to request a copy to call 633-0120 or email (americansamoastatistics@doc.as.gov).

BACKGROUND

The low-voter turnout in ‘mid-term’ elections, or local non-gubernatorial elections, was highlighted by Senate President Tuaolo Fruean, who called for a vote to be held again on two specific constitutional referendums that were defeated during this year’s mid-term elections. Tuaolo posed the question: Should such important issues be determined by less than half (46%) of the territory’s electors who cast ballots this past Nov. 08, 2022?

The total number of registered voters was 14,313, according to the Official Results document from the Election Office, but only 6,637 electors cast votes on Nov. 8th.