Responding to what could only be described as an egregious violation of voters rights that had been proposed by the Virgin Islands Board of Elections, gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Mapp and Janelle Sarauw today filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) as plaintiffs against officials of the Joint Board of Elections and Board of Elections in the districts of St. Thomas/St. John and St. Croix to ensure that Virgin Islands Voters in the upcoming General Election are protected and are not disenfranchised in any way.
The plaintiffs have respectfully requested that the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands set an emergency hearing prior to the November 4, 2014 General Election to hear the issue and review what has been described as a blatant violation of Virgin Islands Election Laws that candidate Mapp stated was “disturbing” and in fact “a very troubling development that all Virgin Islands Voters should be paying attention to right now.”
On Monday, Oct. 27, the Joint Board of Elections met and issued a mandate that it would not allow Virgin Islands Voters to personally scan their own ballots on the new DS200 Voting Machines. The board alleged that the new DS200 Voting Machines were not properly programmed for cross-voting, an allegation that has been repeatedly refuted by the manufacturer and technicians monitoring the voting machines.
Some board members have made unsubstantiated claims that voters would be at a disadvantage because they would not be able to correct their votes if they over-vote, or under-vote, and therefore, the board made the unilateral and potentially illegal determination that they would not allow voters to personally scan their own ballots in the DS200 Voting Machines.
“The sanctity of a voter’s intent is a constitutional right afforded to every American citizen, and it is the very foundation of our Democratic Process as a free society. The mere thought that a board member would even think about purposely placing themselves in between a Virgin Islands Voter and their right to cast their Ballots is abhorrent and I believe may very well require a federal investigation,” said Mapp.
Mapp pointed out the federal side of the argument because of the fact that the delegates’ race for Congress is also on the ballot during Tuesday’s general election and is therefore considered a federal election and will also be subject to federal oversight and review.
It has been reported that some board members intend to hand-count the ballots and will toss out the ballots of voters who vote for the symbol of a party and also vote for a candidate off the straight ticket designation. They have publicly stated that such ballots will not be counted in the election and discarded, which is a blatant violation of election laws.
The Plaintiffs, Mapp and Sarauw assert that the DS200 Voting Machine technology provides the voter with the immediate opportunity to correct any errors thereby eliminating the risk of votes being thrown out on the grounds of any spoliation. A point raised with the Board Members who have chosen up to this point to ignore.
The DS200 Voting Machines also provide an accurate method of counting such types of votes and, most importantly, all Ballots Cast are preserved and those same paper ballots are preserved for any potential recount, if at all necessary.
“The Board’s refusal to use these recently purchased electronic Voting System Machines that have been endorsed by the Federal Government is not only unjustified but begins to raise serious questions about what other motives may be at work here.” Mapp said. “Not using these new machines that the Board purchased will deny many Virgin Islanders their constitutional right to have their vote counted. I’m taking this action to ensure that no voter is ever disenfranchised in any way and my campaign will do whatever needs to be done to ensure that every Voter in our Virgin Islands is afforded their sacred right as citizens of the United States to vote and have a say in who their elected officials will be,” concluded Mapp.
To learn more about Mapp-Potter’s positions, visit www.mapp-potter.com
