ST. CROIX — As Election Day approaches on November 5 and early voting started a week ago on St. Croix and St. Thomas, two former senators who were unsuccessful in the primary election have launched write-in campaigns ahead of the general election.
Former Senator Nereida “Nellie” Rivera-O’Reilly, who served five consecutive terms in the Legislature until 2018 during the 32nd Legislature, ran as a Senatorial candidate as a member of the Democratic Party during the primary election on August 3. While she finished in the eighth position, only the top seven candidates advanced to the general election.
Rivera-O’Reilly has since launched a write-in campaign as a candidate in the Senate race.
Rivera-O’Reilly, in her declaration to the Office of the Supervisor of Elections to be a write-in candidate, submitted 139 name conventions. In addition to a variety of different spelling combinations using her first and last name, nickname, and initials, she submitted words that are unrelated to her name. Some of those submissions were “not she,” “go home,” “0 (zero),” and “never.” She also submitted versions of her nickname — “Crazy ‘Nellie,’” and “no not ‘Nellie.’”
Even though Rivera-O’Reilly included non-name submissions in her declaration, the Office of the Supervisor of Elections is not bound to count them if voters write in those words on the ballot.
The Board of Elections has traditionally determined whether voters intended to vote for a write-in candidate by evaluating what they wrote, not by Rivera-O’Reilly submitting multiple aliases as a write-in name, Arturo Watlington Jr., a Board of Elections member, said.
Only counting write-in votes that are the actual names or name variations, including misspellings has been the practice of the Board of Elections in previous election cycles.
“It’s just common sense,” Watlington said. “You cannot give a write-in candidate more opportunities than someone’s name who appears on the ballot.”
A vote for a write-in candidate shall be counted and canvassed if it includes the first name, middle initial and last name, or last name and initial, or first and last name, or full name as it appears on the declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate, according to the Board of Elections’ rules and regulations for write-in candidates. Misspelling the above combination will be counted in identifying declared write-in candidates if the name can be reasonably determined by a majority of Board of Elections members.
Although Rivera-O’Reilly is running a campaign as a write-in candidate, she previously filed a lawsuit arguing that individuals who receive write-in votes were not candidates.
In 2014, Rivera-O’Reilly filed a civil lawsuit in the Virgin Islands Superior Court against members of the Board of Elections from the St. Croix District. While the board members were named as defendants in the lawsuit, former Senator Alicia “Chucky” Hansen was named as intervenor.
Rivera-O’Reilly was re-elected to the 31st Legislature on November 15, 2014 as the seventh-place finisher. Hansen’s name was removed from the ballot for ineligibility to serve as a senator after the Virgin Islands Supreme Court found that her 2008 conviction for willful failure to file tax returns was a crime of moral turpitude in a case initially filed on May 19, 2014 in Superior Court by former Senator Adelbert Bryan, who served as chair of the Board of Elections on St. Croix at the time. Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes informed Hansen on September 2, 2014 that her name would be removed from the election ballot. On September 3, 2014, then-Governor John de Jongh Jr. pardoned Hansen’s three convictions of willful failure to file an income tax return for the 2002, 2003, and 2004 tax years. Hansen conducted a write-in campaign after her name was removed from the ballot. After finishing in the 13th position, she petitioned the Board of Elections to order a recount.
Rivera-O’Reilly argued in her lawsuit that Hansen was not entitled to a recount because she was not a candidate within the meaning of Title 18, Section 625 of the Virgin Islands Code since her name was not already on the ballot. The Superior Court found that Hansen was not a candidate, and that she did not have a right to petition the board for a recount since the law states that such a petition may be filed by a candidate. Hansen, a former 11-term senator who died last year at the age of 70, appealed to the Supreme Court, which held that she was a candidate and therefore possessed standing to file a recount petition.
After Rivera-O’Reilly submitted her declaration to be a write-in candidate three weeks ago, Fawkes informed her in writing that she could not certify the former senator because she was previously certified as a Democratic candidate for the legislative office in the primary election.
“I cannot certify the same person in one election cycle for the same position,” Fawkes said.
Rivera-O’Reilly changed her party affiliation to no party. She submitted a new declaration to be a write-in candidate. After she made the adjustment by changing her party affiliation, Fawkes said that allowed her to certify the former senator as a write-in candidate.
Fawkes also certified Whitaker, a Democrat, as a write-in candidate. Whitaker, a one-term senator, joined the Legislature after being elected in 2020. She finished this year’s primary election in the 10th position.
While Whitaker unsuccessfully ran as a Senatorial candidate in the primary election, she is certified as a write-in candidate to be a delegate for the Sixth Constitutional Convention. Since she is not running for the same office, she did not have to change her party affiliation. Whitaker submitted her declaration to be a write-in candidate with five name conventions — Genevieve Whitaker, Whitaker G., Whitaker G, G. Whitaker, G Whitaker.
Although the board has been responsible for conducting the elections for the past 60 years, this year will be the first time the Office of the Supervisor of Elections will be conducting the elections following a 2022 amendment to the law.
“It’s according to what’s done nationwide,” Fawkes said about the change in the law. “The election official runs the elections.”
Fawkes is prepared to follow in the footsteps of the board when it comes to counting the names voters write in on the ballot.
“It has to be a variation of names,” she said.
Fawkes has certified three write-in candidates in each district. In addition to Rivera-O’Reilly and Whitaker, the third write-in candidate on St. Croix is Cheryl Charles, who is seeking election to the Legislature. The three certified write-in candidates for the St. Thomas/St. John District are Lydia Hendricks, a Board of Elections member, and Mark Hodge, who are both seeking election as delegates to the Sixth Constitutional Convention, and Amy Thomas-Lawson, who is seeking election to the Board of Elections as a representative from St. John.
While there are 14 candidates running in the St. Croix District as delegates to the Sixth Constitutional Convention, only the top seven vote-getters will serve as delegates in each district. There are only four delegate candidates running in the St. Thomas/St. John District. There are also two delegate candidates running at-large. Only the top vote-getter will become the at-large delegate.
Considering there are only four delegate candidates running for seven seats in the St. Thomas/St. John District, Fawkes said the remaining three seats could be filled by individuals who get elected as a result of the write-in process. While two delegate candidates have been certified in the district as write-in candidates, Fawkes said voters are also permitted to write in the names of individuals who have not been certified. If there is a tie among the delegate candidates, she said it would be resolved the same way it is done in the senatorial race — by pulling numbers to determine the winner.
Early voting started Monday, October 14 on St. Croix and St. Thomas. After the first week of early voting, 1,602 electors participated on St. Croix and 1,218 participated on St. Thomas, according to the Elections System. Fawkes urged the public not to wait until the last minute to cast a ballot during early voting.
Early voting for the November 5 general election continues from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily (including Saturday and Sunday) through Monday, October 28 on St. Croix and St. Thomas. Early voting is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily (including Saturday and Sunday) from Monday, October 21 to Monday, October 28 on St. John. So far, 23 electors participated in early voting on St. John, according to ESVI. The early voting locations are at the Elections System of the Virgin Islands office on each island — the Sunny Isle Shopping Center on St. Croix, Lockhart Gardens (upstairs Banco Popular) on St. Thomas, and Market Place Suite II on St. John.
