St. Croix Educational Complex High School Students voted for their favorite candidates in a mock election this week. If these high school students were allowed to vote, Sens. Kurt Vialet and Positive Nelson would be shoe-ins.
Results in mock elections may not bear a close resemblance to the actual votes but are an interesting glimpse into how the students see the political landscape.
St. Croix gets to choose seven senators and vote for an at-large senator based on St. John. Seven of the eight most popular candidates for the high school students were the incumbents, with disgraced former Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, who lost in 2014, coming in third, pushing Sen. Kenneth Gittens into eighth place. (See: What’s In a Name? Chucky, By Any Other Name, Is Bad for the USVI in Related Links below)
Delegate Stacey Plaskett, the Democratic Party candidate for delegate to Congress, is the only candidate on the ballot for that post. Businessman Gordon Ackley is running as a write-in candidate for the V.I. GOP, but did not file papers to run before the established deadline and is not on the ballot.
Brian Smith is running unopposed, as a Democrat, for the at-large Senate seat. Sen. Almando "Rocky" Liburd, the incumbent senator at large, is not running for reelection this year.
The full results of the mock election are as follows:
1: Sen. Kurt Vialet, 448
2: Sen. Positive Nelson, 445
3: Alicia “Chucky” Hansen, 280
4: Sen. Neville James, 261
5: Sen. Nereida “Nellie” Rivera-O’Reilly, 259
6: Sen. Novelle Francis Jr., 254
7: Sen. Samuel Sanes, 251
8: Sen. Kenneth Gittens, 213
9: Terrence Joseph, 145
10: Robert Moorhead, 121
11: Danny Emmanuel, 104
12: Norman Jn Baptiste, 65
13: Duane Howell, 55