ST. CROIX — The certification of the general election results on Friday by the Office of the Supervisor of Elections revealed the write-in winners for the Virgin Islands Boards of Elections and Education, and Sixth Constitutional Convention in the St. Thomas/St. John District.
Nathan Fletcher was elected as a write-in candidate from St. John to serve on the Board of Elections, and Abigail Hendricks was elected as a write-in candidate to serve as the at-large member on the Board of Education, according to the certified results.
In addition to Fletcher, voters elected four Board of Elections members from St. Croix. While Lilliana Belardo de O’Neal and Michael Joseph were reelected, the other two candidates elected to the board from St. Croix were C. Jason JnBaptiste and Cleopatra Peter. Voters also elected three Board of Elections members from St. Thomas — Lawrence Boschulte, Chaneel Callwood, and Barbara LaRonde.
While Hendricks was elected as a write-in candidate to serve as the at-large member of the Board of Education, voters elected two members from St. Croix and two from the St. Thomas/St. John District. In the St. Croix District, Emmanuella Perez-Cassius was reelected, while former two-term board member Mary Moorhead was once again elected. Kyza Callwood, board chair, and Nandi Sekou were both reelected in the St. Thomas/St. John District.
Voters also elected 15 delegates to the Sixth Constitutional Convention, including seven from each district and one at-large delegate.
The seven delegates elected from St. Croix in descending order were Usie Richards, Devin Carrington, Lilliana Belardo de O’Neal, John Abramson Jr., Rupert Ross Jr., Ronald Russell, and John Canegata.
In the St. Thomas/St. John District, only four candidates ran to serve as delegates to the Sixth Constitutional Convention. They were all elected along with three write-in candidates to make up the seven delegates. The four candidates on the ballot elected in descending order were Stedmann Hodge Jr., Arturo Watlington Jr., Rudel Hodge Jr., and David Silverman. The three write-in candidates elected in descending order were Lydia Hendricks, Imani Daniel, and Akima Richardson.
The at-large delegate elected to the Sixth Constitutional Convention was Alecia Wells.
Board of Elections members in the St. Croix District and St. Thomas/St. John District gathered in their respective districts on Friday to conclude counting absentee ballots before the Office of the Supervisor of Elections certified the results.
After the Board of Elections finished counting 613 absentee ballots on Friday, there was no change to the candidates who were announced as winners on election night for the senatorial race or delegate to Congress.
There, however, was a change in the position for two candidates running for Senate in the St. Thomas/St. John District as incumbent Senator Carla Joseph bumped Senator-elect Avery Lewis (3,470 votes) to the sixth position as she secured the fifth spot with 3,483 votes. The other winners of the senatorial race in that district in descending order were incumbent Senators Milton Potter, Alma Francis Heyliger, Dwayne DeGraff, Marvin Blyden, and Ray Fonseca.
The order of candidates elected to the Senate in the St. Croix District did not change. The winners in descending order were former Senator Kurt Vialet; Senator-elect Clifford Joseph; incumbent Senators Novelle Francis Jr., Kenneth Gittens, and Franklin Johnson; Senator-elect Hubert Frederick; and incumbent Senator Marise James.
Senator Angel Bolques Jr. was reelected as the at-large senator after receiving 7,543 votes. His only opponent, Lorelei Marsh Monsanto, received 4,230 votes.
After finishing the August 3 primary election in the eighth position for the senatorial race in the St. Croix District, just one spot shy of advancing to the general election, former five-term Senator Nereida “Nellie” Rivera-O’Reilly launched a highly visible write-in campaign as a candidate for the 36th Legislature of the Virgin Islands. She received 774 write-in votes after tabulating the different spellings and variations of her name.
Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett was reelected to a sixth term after securing 10,397 votes. Plaskett beat Ida Smith, who received 2,323 votes, and Ronald Pickard, who received 1,348 votes.
The certified election results included 15,952 ballots cast, representing a 51.18% voter turnout. The total ballots cast included 8,506 on election day, 6,832 during early voting, 613 absentee ballots and one provisional ballot.
