ST. CROIX — The Office of the Supervisor of Elections will conduct its first general election on Tuesday following an amendment to the law that shifted the responsibility from the Virgin Islands Board of Elections.
“Our goal is to be secure, accessible, transparent for the election process,” Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes said. “We’re encouraging all the voters to participate.”
Fawkes further discussed the cost of running the primary election and the low voter turnout, a projected shortfall of $100,000 to conduct the general election that will force her to dip into other budgeted funds, and the potential for political parties to conduct their own primaries in the future.
General election:
While the Office of the Supervisor of Elections always prepared the ballots and voting machines in past election cycles, the Board of Elections was responsible for setting up the voting centers and monitoring the voting process, Fawkes said. She said that role is now under her office in addition to deploying the voting machines to and from the voting centers. She said her office will now certify the election results to the Board of Elections, noting the board previously certified the results.
Although the supervisor’s office has new duties when it comes to conducting elections, Fawkes said she is familiar how to fulfill them based on past experiences working with the Board of Elections throughout the years.
When the board ran elections, Fawkes said a quorum was required before board members could begin electronically tallying the votes, noting delays if a quorum was not established. She said the process begins with ballots cast during early voting. Since there is no quorum requirement for her office to start counting, she said the tabulation will begin with machines used during early voting immediately after the polls close at 7 p.m.
“So, at 7:01 p.m., with the voting technician, the public and board members, whomever is here, the staff that’s assigned, they will tabulate down the votes,” she said.
When early voting concluded on Monday, Fawkes said the machines used were sealed and stored. She said they will remain sealed until her office begins tabulating the votes on election night.
“We start with early voting, and then after that we go to all the voting centers,” Fawkes said. “It’s unofficial results on election night until we go to the absentee ballot process, which could be up to 10 days. So, we certify the election November 15.”
The Office of the Supervisor of Elections will release the results from early voting on election night before tabulating those from the voting centers, Fawkes said.
“We look forward to a timely process,” Fawkes said, adding that she expects to release all the results by 8:30 p.m. “We strive for that same goal that we did in last election cycle, which was a gubernatorial cycle.”
The territorial summary results were released during the 2022 general election at 8:48 p.m. on November 8, 2022.
Although the Board of Elections won’t be conducting the elections, board members still have responsibilities. The Board of Elections on Wednesday tested the ExpressVote and DS200 voting machines that will be used during the general election.
The Office of the Supervisor of Elections will be running the general election for the first time this year following an amendment to the law approved by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands in 2022 that Governor Albert Bryan Jr. enacted into law in January 2023. The 34th Legislature approved multiple nongermane amendments to Bill No. 34-0298 (Act No. 8690) during legislative session on December 29, 2022. One of them switched the responsibility for conducting elections to the Office of the Supervisor of Elections from the Board of Elections. This year is the first election cycle for the supervisor’s office to conduct elections, beginning with the primary election held on August 3.
Primary election:
After receiving $450,000 from the Legislature to conduct both the primary and general elections, the Office of the Supervisor of Elections spent $197,969.38 to conduct the primary election, according to the office. The cost of running the primary in both districts included paying for poll workers, advertising, food catering, security services, printing and binding, repairs and maintenance, and transportation. $252,030.62 remains available for the general election.
“In the past, we have gotten $350,000 for the general election,” Fawkes said.
Fawkes said she raised the issue of the funding shortfall during previous Senate hearings to include her office’s fiscal year 2025 budget hearing on June 20. She said her office will have to dip into its annual budget or pull funds from the Board of Elections to cover the cost of running the general election.
“We can’t not do the election,” she said, adding she will request supplemental funding from the Legislature to recover any budgeted funds spent on the general election. “We need at least $100,000.”
Fawkes discussed the possibility of turning over the responsibility for conducting primary elections to the political parties following a low voter turnout of 12.24% during the August 3 primary election, which only included candidates from the Democratic Party since it was the only party with more candidates running than available seats.
While the government previously held primary elections that allowed voters to elect candidates for both public office and party office, the political parties must now organize the election for their party offices following a civil lawsuit the Republican National Committee and Republican Party in the Virgin Islands won in January.
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An alternative to the government holding primary elections for public office would be to have the political parties hold primaries for the election of their party offices as well as public offices.
Fawkes suggested collecting data from the next gubernatorial election in 2026 before deciding on whether the political parties should be responsible for conducting primary elections for both party and public offices.
“We’ll have to try it twice before we decide because the next election cycle is a gubernatorial election cycle, so usually more persons want to participate in that cycle,” she said. “Let’s try it twice. Do it in a gubernatorial and if it’s still the same low turnout, then there will be time that the party take it over.”
Voting locations:
On Election Day, the polls for the general election will be open territory wide from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Electors can cast their votes at any voting center on the island on which they reside. A government-issued identification or voter identification card is required.
The voting centers on St. Croix are at the David C. Canegata Recreation Center, St. Dunstan’s Episcopal School auditorium, St. Croix Central High School modular gymnasium, St. Joseph Church hospitality lounge, and Claude O. Markoe Elementary School auditorium.
The voting centers on St. Thomas are at Charlotte Amalie High School, Elridge Blake Sports & Fitness Center at the University of the Virgin Islands, Ivanna Eudora Kean High School cafeteria, and Tutu Park Mall (south entrance near the U.S. Post Office).
The voting centers on St. John are at the Julius E. Sprauve School cafeteria, and Guy H. Benjamin School.
