Gilmore Estrill Sr., who signed up to run as an at-large candidate for the Legislature, has failed to meet residency requirements, according to Elections Board Director John Abramson.
“He only had a St. John address since Aug. 2,” Abramson said Thursday, referring to a lease allegedly produced by Estrill.
Abramson said that the Board of Elections will send Estrill a letter and call him to inform him that he is disqualified.
As of mid-afternoon Thursday, his name was listed as a 2010 candidate on the Board of Elections website, www.vivote.gov. His address is listed as a box number with a St. Thomas Zip Code, 00801.
By law, the at-large candidate must live on St. John, although he or she is elected by voters from all three islands.
The Board of Elections has conflicting information on the residency requirement. Abramson said the candidate must live on St. John for 90 days before the election. That is also the requirement to register to vote in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
However, the board’s website indicates anyone running for senator must live in the territory for at least five consecutive years before the election. It does not address how long an at-large candidate must live on St. John.
The V.I. Code, accessed through the legal resource website, www.michie.com, indicates that senators must live in the district in which they are running for at least three consecutive years before the election. Additionally, the at-large senator must live on St. John for at least three consecutive years.
Abramson said that he will address that discrepancy because the V.I. Code supersedes any other information.
Estrill, reached by phone, said he signed up to run because he wanted “to run against Craig,” referring to incumbent Sen. Craig Barshinger.
Estrill said he moved to St. John specifically so he could run for the at-large seat. He said he sleeps nightly at the St. John apartment he’s rented “near the car wash.” The car wash is located in Enighed, an area of Cruz Bay.
Estrill added that he owns a construction company on St. John and is familiar with the island’s issues, putting property taxes at the top of the problems faced by St. John residents.
This is not Estrill’s first foray into the territory’s political arena. An Internet search turned up several previous runs for a St. Thomas/St. John district Senate seat.
In addition to Barshinger, Alecia M. Wells, Ronnie Jones and Lorelei Monsanto are running for the at-large seat.
“I find it disrespectful to the people of St. John,” Monsanto said of Estrill’s failure to meet residency requirements.
Monsanto pointed out that although the at-large senator must live on St. John, the successful candidate is elected by all the territory’s voters. The number of voters on St. Thomas and St. Croix are far greater than those on St. John, which Monsanto said doesn’t truly give St. John representation.
Barshinger said that he knows Estrill and was surprised to learn he was running for his seat.
“I didn’t think of him as a St. John resident,” Barshinger said.
Jones said he had no problem with Estrill running if he lived on St. John, but he said it does not appear that he does.
“People look for opportunities,” he said.
Wells did not return phone calls requesting comment.
