ST. CROIX — Voters who participated in the Democratic Party caucus Saturday overwhelmingly selected President Joe Biden as their choice for the party’s presidential nominee with 99.5% of the votes in addition to electing seven delegates to participate in the Democratic National Convention in August.
“We might be a small territory when compared to the states, but our hearts are big and we believe in our leader, and it shows in the votes,” Carol Burke, Democratic Party vice chair and caucus coordinator, said.
All seven of the elected delegates and one alternate pledged to pick Biden as the party’s presidential nominee while attending the Democratic National Convention from August 19 to 22 in Chicago.
Democratic State Chair Stedmann Hodge Jr. highlighted the importance of the VI delegation’s involvement in the national convention.
“This is the one unique opportunity where the territories can participate in the national election process, at least to nominate the presidential team,” he said Saturday. “Outside of that we cannot vote for the president, so this is a great opportunity for us to participate in. So, I really need to thank all the voters that came out today to make their mark, and then it's up to us to head up to Chicago and continue the process and the good work on behalf of the Democratic Party of the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
Voters registered as Democrats had an opportunity to participate in the caucus, during which they were allowed to select their preferred candidates as delegates to participate in the national convention. Voters also got to pick their choice of the party’s presidential nominee.
“As a part of the party platform for the national convention, we have consistently been pushing for our right to vote for the president through the party system and through the national convention, and here today we’re extending that right to Democrats to either choose President Joe Biden, Marianne Williamson, or uncommitted,” Burke said.
Democrats who participated in the caucus picked Biden as their choice for the party’s presidential nominee with 99.5% of the votes, including all 335 on St. Croix and 132 on St. Thomas. There was also one vote for Williamson and one uncommitted vote on St. Thomas.
Voting during the caucus took place at the La Reine Chicken Shack on St. Croix, and in the West Indian Company Limited conference room on St. Thomas. Julius E. Sprauve School was identified for voting on St. John, but Burke said ongoing power outages prevented the school from opening as a precinct. St. John residents had the option of traveling to St. Thomas to cast their ballots.
There were two days of early voting for the caucus, during which 175 voters participated on St. Croix and about 70 participated on St. Thomas, Burke said. She said the electrical challenges prevented early voting on St. John.
A group of 13 delegates and one alternate will represent the Virgin Islands at the Democratic National Convention. They will participate in the process to select the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee who will run in the general election set for November 5.
“This is the closest that we’ll get to vote for the president,” Burke said.
Hodge discussed a recent announcement that the Democratic National Committee will virtually certify Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominees ahead of Ohio’s August 7 ballot certification deadline to ensure the Biden/Harris ticket is on the state’s general election ballot. Biden will formally accept his party’s presidential nomination at the national convention.
“We are still going to meet in Chicago even though President Biden has already received his nomination, but we’ll have our official roll call,” Hodge said.
The 13 delegates include seven who were elected during the caucus and six automatic delegates. One alternate elected during the caucus will also attend the convention.
The Democratic National Committee has strict guidelines that promote gender equality in the composition of state and territory delegations. Voters, therefore, elected two men and one woman from St. Croix as delegates, as well as two men and two women from the St. Thomas/St. John District.
There were seven candidates from St. Croix, including five men and two women.
The elected delegates from St. Croix are Robert Rios (202 votes), John Gumbs (96 votes), and Yvette Edwards (166 votes). Carolyn Burke, who received 158 votes, will be the alternate.
The other unsuccessful candidates from St. Croix were Cecil Benjamin, Wilfredo Guzman Marinez, and Ronald Russell.
There were five candidates from the St. Thomas/St. John District, including two men and three women.
The elected delegates from the St. Thomas/St. John District are Kevin Rodriquez (93 votes), Kyza Callwood (74 votes), Barbara Petersen (77 votes), and Riise Richards (62 votes).
The other candidate who did not make the cut from the St. Thomas/St. John District was Delekah Callwood (41 votes).
The six automatic delegates are Carol Burke, the party’s vice chair; Hodge, the party’s state chair; Democratic National Committeeman Angel Bolques Jr., who serves as at-large senator; Democratic National Committeewoman Donna Christensen; Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett; and Governor Albert Bryan Jr.
The Virgin Islands Board of Elections had two representatives conducting voter registration at the Chicken Shack. They registered two residents who immediately got to participate in the caucus.
“They registered and they got to vote,” Florine Audain-Hassell, a BOE member, said. “It was an effective and efficient process.”
As voters arrived at the Chicken Shack to participate in the caucus, they had to check in with Christensen for verification that they were registered Democrats. She used a laptop set up at a picnic table in the restaurant’s outdoor dining area during the process. She handed voters their ballots to fill out behind one of three voting stands equipped with privacy dividers that were set up under a pavilion. The voters folded their ballots and dropped them in the box.
Rios, who has been a delegate to the Democratic National Convention every four years since 2008, said he ran again this year because attending the convention gives him an opportunity to network at a national level in addition to supporting the party platform.
“I wish that we could vote for president, and that’s one thing that has always been on the agenda to push forward so that the territories and the commonwealth can vote for the president,” he said.
Gumbs, who has never run as a delegate, said he became a candidate to have a voice in picking the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee while representing the Virgin Islands in such a “momentous upcoming election.”
“The current state that the United States is in is something that needs to be improved, and I know our current president, Joe Biden, can make that additional improvement, so he needs another four years to go to make those improvements,” he said.
Edwards, another first-time candidate, said she ran to become a delegate to participate in the presidential nomination process.
“Although we cannot vote in the presidential election, this is our chance to be a part of it, and this presidential election is so crucial,” she said.
Carolyn Burke, who served as an alternate delegate during the Democratic National Convention in 2016, emphasized the importance of the Virgin Islands delegation in having a say in selecting the party’s next presidential nominee.
“I want to represent the Virgin Islands at the convention because we cannot vote for the president of the United States, but at the convention we have a say as to who’s going to be the next Democratic candidate,” she said. “And I want it to be Biden, and I want to be part of the Virgin Islands delegation that is going to make our vote count at the convention.”
