During an emergency meeting Sunday afternoon, the St. Croix Elections board approved some important procedures for Tuesday’s general election that already has the potential for chaos.
The larger-than-usual audience that included several senators and candidates.
The board members attending the meeting were Adelbert Bryan, chairman, Glenn Webster, Rupert Ross, Roland Moolenaar and Raymond Williams. The contentiousness that has marked recent meetings was absent and about a dozen topics were discussed in three hours.
The most basic element – the ballot – was approved and displayed so that observers could see the absence of Sen. Alicia “Chucky” Hansen’s name, in accordance with a V.I. Supreme Court ruling.
The new ballots were received Friday from ES&S, the vendor that sells the voting machines, and testing on the DS200 and Automark machines began yesterday to make sure each candidate’s name and referendum is scored correctly. Board members planned to oversee testing 40 sample ballots for each precinct Sunday night in order to have them delivered to polling sites Monday afternoon. The public was invited to watch the tests.
With a unanimous vote, the board finalized its procedures for counting ballots, including those of early and absentee voters. Keeping with the discussion and vote of the Joint Board of Elections last week, the St. Croix board approved storing ballots in the bottom of the DS200 until the polls close. Then judges, poll watchers and others allowed by law to remain will sort ballots. Those that are marked using the party symbol will be counted by hand and the rest fed into the DS200 to tabulate and store on a jump drive. Then, the drive and ballots will all be delivered to the Elections office for reporting to the public.
There was discussion about voters wanting to insert their own ballot and it was mentioned that a radio talk show host is encouraging people to stay at the polling site until they scan their ballot. Bryan repeated their intention to hold ballots until the end of the day and the board agreed they should notify the V.I. Police Department about the new procedures.
Bryan said more officers will be needed at the Elections office that day and night, as well.
The more than 800 early and absentee ballots will continue to be stored in the DS200, scanned the same way and also counted Tuesday night after the polls close. There was discussion about counting those votes the next day, but Bryan suggested they hire another judge to count them the same night. Ross said the law mandates they are counted the same day. In the end, the board voted to hire enough judges for all of the precincts since the procedure is longer than usual and manpower intensive.
Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes warned the DS200 could overheat if the ballots were scanned all at one time. She added that the St. Thomas/St. John board decided to scan 50 ballots at a time. Williams stressed the scanning should be “monitored by everybody around.”
“The law is clear, only watchers with certificates, judges and board members can be in the area after the polls are closed,” Ross added.
The board also approved the process for writing in candidates’ names. If the bubble is not marked and the name spelled clearly and correctly, the vote won’t count. Discussion about stickers being place on ballots brought about the decision to disallow stickers.
“I’m not certifying any election with stickers in it,” Bryan said.
The set-up for the media and others at the Elections office was discussed. There will be a tent outside where media will have access to audio and television feed as the board posts the results. Media will not be allowed inside.
