ST. CROIX — The Virgin Islands Board of Elections voted during an emergency meeting today to give aspiring delegate to Congress candidate James Weber III three days to correct a filing issue that had led Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes to disqualify his candidacy, while also deadlocking on an effort to fill the board’s vacant vice chair position.
The board met simultaneously in St. Croix and St. Thomas, with members attending from Elections System offices in both districts, to consider appeals involving several prospective candidates whose nominations had been rejected by the Elections System. The emergency meeting was initially scheduled for last Friday but got postponed to today due to a lack of quorum.
Weber, who is seeking to run for delegate to Congress as an independent, was disqualified after filing nomination papers in the St. Thomas/St. John District rather than in the St. Croix District where he resides, as required under Virgin Islands law, according to Fawkes.
“The System determined that the filing did not satisfy the mandatory statutory requirement,” she said, referring to the Virgin Islands Code, Title 18, Section 410(a)(1), which she noted does not allow any period to cure.
Cleopatra Peter and Barbara LaRonde both objected to the supervisor’s disqualification of Weber.
Peter disagreed that Weber should have been disqualified for filing his papers in the wrong district. She read the law in Section 411, which allows three days for candidates to refile their petitions if they were initially found to be defective.
“The candidate should have been given three days to solve the problem,” Peter said.
LaRonde agreed, citing federal law that speaks to allowing the filing of paperwork in the district where the Legislature is elected, not where the aspirant resides.
“There’s no restriction on the district it can be submitted in,” she said.
Fawkes clarified local law requires the aspirants to file in the district in which they reside.
Peter said Weber should be given three days to remedy his filing error.
“If there is a defect, remedy it in three days,” she said. “If he doesn’t bring it to St. Croix, then cancel him out.”
Peter then moved to “follow the law.” Kareem Francis objected but Raymond Williams, board chair, clarified the motion needed a second before Francis could object. LaRonde then seconded the motion. Peter rephrased her motion, stating it was to give Weber “three days to remedy his problem.”
Francis explained his objection.
“I believe that the law was very clear when it states that you must file in a district where you reside,” he said.
The board voted 4-3, with one abstention, to allow Weber three days to cure the defect. Peter, LaRonde, Harriet Mercer, and Atanya Springette voted in favor. Francis, Williams, and Lilliana Belardo de O'Neal voted against. Cornelius JnBaptiste abstained. Chaneel Callwood, Franz Christian Jr., Nathan Fletcher, Shikima Jones, and Michael Joseph were absent.
After the meeting, Fawkes said Weber would be notified today that he has three days to file his nomination packet on St. Croix. She said Weber or someone representing him must retrieve his nomination packet that was submitted to the Elections System office on St. Thomas so it can be turned in on St. Croix by 5 p.m. Thursday.
The board also considered the candidacy of gubernatorial hopeful Stephen “Smokey” Frett and his prospective running mate, Derek Bermudez. Fawkes said Bermudez was not a registered voter in the Virgin Islands and therefore was constitutionally ineligible to run for lieutenant governor.
After clarifying that Bermudez has never been registered to vote in the territory, board members upheld the disqualification. At the request of Francis, the board agreed to formally notify Frett that the disqualification would stand.
The board also upheld the disqualification of aspiring delegate to Congress candidate Jed JohnHope, who Fawkes said submitted nomination papers containing 28 signatures from the St. Thomas/St. John District and 3 signatures from St. Croix, far short of the 100 required from each district. Fawkes cited an opinion from the Office of the Attorney General concluding that the deficiency could not be cured after the filing deadline because the signatures were never obtained.
Fawkes told the board she also disqualified aspiring senatorial candidate Jaylen Gabriel because he failed to return his nomination petition after being given a notice of defect. She said he changed his mind and no longer wanted to seek the public office. The board took no action.
A separate discussion focused on aspirants who were qualified by the Elections System but ultimately decertified by the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands. LaRonde described their decertification by the party as a “problem.”
“It’s just that simple,” LaRonde said.
Williams clarified the Democratic Party has its own requirements that aspirants must meet in order to run as candidates under the party’s banner.
“The party certifies members that appear on the ballot under their banner,” he said.
JnBaptiste suggested aspirants who have an issue with the Democratic Party need to address their concerns to the party.
“We don’t control the party,” he said.
Francis said he switched from being a Democrat to become an independent because he disagreed with some of the party’s policies.
“The courts already ruled that the parties have the right to dictate their process and who is going to represent them,” he said.
The board also considered filling the vice chair vacancy created by the resignation of former Vice Chair Lawrence Boschulte, who resigned to run for Senate.
A motion by JnBaptiste to appoint Belardo de O’Neal as vice chair failed on a 4-4 tie vote after members first rejected a proposal to conduct the vote by secret ballot. The motion was supported by JnBaptiste, Belardo de O’Neal, Springette, and Williams. It was opposed by Francis, LaRonde, Peter, and Mercer.
Before adjourning, the board approved minutes from its June 3 meeting after making a series of corrections to attendance records, vote totals, and spelling errors.
The meeting ended abruptly after LaRonde moved that the board accept a 2024 legal opinion from the attorney general that found Ida Smith was qualified to run for delegate to Congress at that time. Although Fawkes had disqualified her over a residency requirement in 2024, Rhea found that the residency requirement for candidates seeking the federal office does not begin until the time of election. LaRonde’s motion called for the board to accept the AG’s opinion and instruct Fawkes to withdraw her request that Smith provide documentation regarding her residency on St. John. Belardo de O’Neal objected, got up from her seat, and announced that she was leaving the meeting.
“I’ve got things to do,” she said as she walked out.
Since only eight members of the 15-member board attended the meeting, the board lost its quorum and could not act on the motion. No vote was taken before the meeting dissolved, leaving the matter unresolved.
