ST. CROIX — The Virgin Islands Board of Elections approved a motion by a vote of 11 to 0 during an emergency meeting Monday to loan lock boxes and privacy stations to the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands for the election of party offices via paper ballot.
The 14-member board, however, will not provide the Democratic Party with any space as requested to conduct its election. The motion passed with all 11 members present voting in favor of it.
Additionally, the board discussed a recording from one of its executive session meetings that got leaked to the public.
Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes told the board members that she did not support giving any space to the Democratic Party for its election.
“It’s going to cause confusion,” she said. “They need to go find another space and place and do their primary, whether they do it August 3 or August 23.”
The board acted after receiving a letter dated July 8 from Democratic State Chair Stedmann Hodge Jr., who requested the use of an adjacent room for electors to vote for party offices during the August 3 primary election and early voting, which runs from today to July 23. Hodge also requested the use of voting machines and privacy stations.
Alecia Wells, board chair, responded to Hodge’s letter on July 10, requesting a plan of action be submitted to her by July 12. Hodge subsequently provided a plan of action in a letter dated July 12 that indicated the party would be using paper ballots. Hodge requested at that time the use of lock boxes for the ballots as well as a room or adjacent table that would not interfere with the primary election that the Elections System of the Virgin Islands will conduct on August 3 for the election of public offices.
The board members clarified that while Hodge initially requested the use of voting machines on July 8, his July 12 letter only requested the use of lock boxes and space to hold the party’s elections for offices.
Harriet Mercer, a board member, questioned who would print the ballots for the Democratic Party. Board member Lydia Hendricks clarified that the printing of the party’s ballots is not a concern of the board since the party will be using paper ballots instead of voting machines.
“They’re asking for a secured box and a space,” Hendricks said. “That’s the only thing that they’re asking for.”
Board member Michael Joseph participated in the virtual meeting in a room at the Elections System of the Virgin Islands that was set up with a laptop because the boardroom got transformed to accommodate early voting. Joseph moved to deny the Democratic Party’s request for assistance as outlined in its July 8 letter, which included a request to use voting machines. His motion failed 7 to 4.
The board then voted to approve the motion to loan the Democratic Party lock boxes and privacy stations, which was moved by Kareem Francis. The motion also clarified that the Board of Elections would not be involved in the party’s election of offices in any way outside of loaning the items.
Board members also discussed how information presented during an executive session meeting got leaked to the public.
Wells said she received “disturbing” information that one board member or numerous board members taped a recent executive session meeting and shared it with someone who is not part of the Elections System. She said the information got leaked to the public.
“Please, do not do that,” she requested. “We need to have some integrity.”
Wells said she received the information in an email.
“I imagine it was the last executive session that we had regarding salary increases because monies were mentioned,” she said, referring to the board’s June 26 meeting when it approved $10,000 pay raises for ESVI’s four exempt employees — Fawkes, St. Croix Deputy Supervisor of Elections Terrell Alexandre, St. Thomas/St. John Deputy Supervisor of Elections Kevermay Douglas, and Richard Wilson, the board’s administrative assistant.
READ MORE: “Board of Elections approves $10K pay raises for Elections System’s four exempt employees.”
Wells asked Joseph, an attorney, to research the board’s bylaws to see what could be done to stop the practice of using cellphones to record executive session. Board member Raymond Williams, director of the VI Lottery, said executive session meetings are confidential. He said the board could move to censure any member who has recorded any discussion held during executive session. Wells said the board must be sure it knows who the member is to censure the person. Williams suggested investigating.
“Every member swore an oath, and they have a responsibility to that oath,” he said. “If they’re not going to uphold that oath, then we can take administrative measures as a body.”
