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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesSt. Croix Elections Board Still Counting Ballots

St. Croix Elections Board Still Counting Ballots

At a snail’s pace, the St. Croix Elections Board continues counting ballots seven days after the general election. With a reported three precincts remaining to be counted Monday, the final tally could come as soon as Tuesday, but the question remains whether the process will be challenged in the courts.

After a weekend of counting votes, the St. Croix board began monitoring early ballots tabulated Monday on the DS 200. During most of the count, there were two or three board members and at least a dozen observers. Candidates’ supporters peered over the shoulders of board members and made notes as numbers were read out.

According to Terrell Alexandre, Elections Board administrative assistant, votes cast at Alexander Henderson, Lew Muckle and Evelyn Williams Elementary schools and a few early ballots are the only ballots not counted as of Monday evening.

The latest numbers were run Sunday with 33 of 37 precincts accounted for and very little has changed since then. It still appears a runoff Nov. 18 will determine the winner of the gubernatorial race.

According to the Elections website, www.vivote.gov, the Kenneth Mapp/Osbert Potter team has 48.14 percent of the vote territorywide to Delegate Donna Christensen/Basil Ottley’s 37.27 percent. Christensen gained and Mapp lost .6 percent since the Thursday report.

The other positions remain unchanged.

According to several board members, by law the ballot tabulating should be monitored by at least four members of the Elections Board. No more than three were present Monday in either room.

Roland Moolenaar read ballots while Glenn Webster and Liliana Belardo de O’Neal watched in one room. Rupert Ross observed as Lisa Harris-Moorhead read ballots in another room. Three or four temporary “talliers” counted as ballots were read and observers kept their own count.

“We’ve got to have four board members. We’re breaking the law,” Webster said and St. Croix Board Chairman Adelbert Bryan agreed, referring to the V.I. Code.

Bryan appeared in the afternoon but said, since he is a candidate for reelection, he cannot oversee ballot tabulation. Ross and Raymond Williams were also seeking reelection.

The unusual counting process determined by the Joint Elections board was, in part, to insure ballots were counted properly for voters who marked party symbols. When a voter selected the symbol he or she must vote for the candidates in that party. Otherwise the votes would be rejected. In the case of a Republican voter, since there was only one senatorial candidate, the voter could vote for six other candidates.

On Monday more than 150 ballots of voters who marked a party symbol were counted and approximately half of the ballots were rejected because people voted for too many senatorial candidates or didn’t vote along the party line.

The counting ceased shortly before 7 p.m. when three board members – Ross, Webster and Harris-Moorhead – left the building, shortly followed by de O’Neal and Moolenaar.

“You and I will be here (Tuesday at 9 a.m.),” de O’Neal said, indicating Moolenaar. “Law or no law.”

Catherine S. Figueroa, a Mapp supporter, will probably be there as well. She has followed the counting every day with other volunteers and is keeping her own numbers . She said the process was going “very well considering the volume of work.” Figueroa said she has been able to stay focused and has seen no mistakes.

“It’s important because we are voters and we want to make sure they are doing their job,” Figueroa said.

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