The St. Croix Board of Elections will hear Senate candidate Raymond "Usie" Richards’ petition for a recount of absentee ballots Tuesday afternoon.
In a letter Monday to Dodson James, chairman of the St. Croix Board of Elections, on which Richards sits, Richards said the board has three days to decide whether or not to grant the candidate’s request for a recount. On Monday, Richards said he expected a decision to be rendered by Wednesday.
On Tuesday morning, James said the board will meet at 2 p.m. "to make a fair and honest" decision on Richards’ request. James said that since Richards is both the petitioner and a board member he has been asked to attend the meeting. Richards’ dual roles presents a sort of "Catch-22" for the board, James said.
"There are some questions we need to ask" regarding the petition, James said, adding that Richards’ experience in election monitoring may have allowed him to see irregularities that other board members may have missed.
James also said that Richards’ role as a board member-candidate is also something that needs to be discussed.
"There needs to be more dialogue on the subject," he said.
At issue is whether the 25 votes that split the tie between Usie Richards and his cousin, Sen. Vargrave Richards, for the seventh St. Croix Senate seat are legitimate.
Usie Richards, who along with sitting on the St. Croix Elections Board chairs the Joint Boards of Elections, said that ballot-counting procedures adopted by the St. Croix board were not followed during Saturday’s absentee ballot count.
Usie Richards also requested two additional checks, including a review of all the people who voted by absentee ballots to determine whether they qualify and a re-tabulation of electronic cartridges used in voting machines. He said that would determine a reason for the difference between the order of the candidates on the night of the general election and the poll-by-poll printouts.
