After twice getting shot down by the Elections System, gubernatorial candidate Moleto Smith Jr. is taking his challenge against Basil Ottley Jr. to the courts, filing petitions that, among other things, call for a review of the Elections supervisor’s decision to keep Ottley on the upcoming primary election and General Election ballots.
Earlier this month, Smith wrote a letter to Elections questioning whether Ottley meets local residency requirements. Ottley is running for lieutenant governor as the running mate of gubernatorial candidate Donna Christensen. According to V.I. law, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor have to be bona fide residents of the Virgin Islands and eligible to vote in the territory for five years preceding the the election.
According to the statute, Ottley would have had to live in the USVI since 2009, but Smith contends Ottley lived on the mainland during that time and did not move back to the territory until the summer of 2010.
Elections officials have said they checked Ottley’s background before certifying Ottley him as a candidate and found he is eligible to run. In a recent interview with the Source, Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes said her office “thoroughly” vets each candidate – which includes conferring with elections offices in the states – before signing off on their eligibility.
While Smith recently filed a request calling for Elections to reconsider letting Ottley run, the V.I. Joint Boards of Elections also voted during a meeting on July 23 to sustain Ottley’s candidacy for lieutenant governor.
In a news statement Tuesday, Smith said he will now file his case in V.I. Superior Court. According to the release, Smith called for a review of Fawkes’ decision and for “appropriate injunctive relief” and “declaratory judgement.”
“We have questions regarding a ruling made by the Election System of the Virgin Islands without hearing arguments from the challenger or requesting information or evidence supporting the challenge or providing adequate and reasonable due process,” Smith said in the statement. “We are looking for open government yet the voter has no idea what administrative process was used by the supervisor, what legal counsel was given, or even the validity of the supervisor’s evidence.”
Smith he won’t make any additional statements on the case now that it has become a legal matter.
