Every time there is a U.S. presidential election, the citizens of the tiny island of Guam are able to cast a vote.
The island is a U.S. territory, which means that its residents are American citizens. However, because they are not a state, there are no electoral college votes given to the island.
Citizens, although that are all Americans, are not allowed to vote by absentee ballot. Their votes do not count in the actual election process.
However, what Guam’s citizens think about our candidates is always important. Before every actual election day, Guam holds a straw poll. The votes are tallied and reported out to the island as well as the mainland.
Why would a non-binding vote get so much attention in the United States and around the world?
Because the tiny island has accurately predicted the outcome of every presidential election since 1980. They predicted the defeat of incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter by Ronald Reagan, Republican of California.
This year the straw poll was held once again.
And the winner was……
Hillary Rodham Clinton by a landslide.
The Democrat received nearly 72 percent of the votes cast, while Republican candidate Donald Trump got only 24 percent of the 30,000 votes cast. A third party candidate, Emidio Soltysik of the Socialist Party, picked up the remaining 4 percent.
Featured image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr.Available through CC BY-SA 2.0
