The St. Croix Board of Elections on Tuesday granted Senate candidate Raymond "Usie" Richards’ request for a recount of absentee ballots and a retabulation of votes cast on electronic voting machines.
Usie Richards tied with his cousin, Sen. Vargrave Richards, at 3,936 apiece for the seventh St. Croix Senate seat on election night. After the board counted absentee ballots Saturday, Sen. Richards came away with a slim 25-vote victory.
Board members Tuesday listened to Usie Richards’ concerns and then voted in closed session to recount the absentee ballots on Monday and retabulate on Tuesday votes cast at polling places.
Usie Richards, who sits on the St. Croix Elections Board and chairs the Joint Boards of Elections, said ballot-counting procedures adopted by the St. Croix board were not followed during Saturday’s absentee ballot count. He also requested 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.
James said a recount and retabulation will be carried out to "keep the integrity" of the board and "clear the air" around the election process.
"I have a tremendous amount of integrity for myself . . . and I want to maintain that," James said earlier in the meeting.
Both the board and Usie Richard said they will investigate the validity of those who voted absentee. If irregularities are discovered, James said the board would turn over their findings to the attorney general.
Usie Richards said if enough absentee voters are found not to qualify, his only recourse would be to challenge the election in court.
"I am strongly suggesting . . . that all applications for absentee ballots be reviewed to determine the validity of the persons voting," Usie Richards said, noting that at least one known felon, whom he declined to name, picked up an absentee ballot at the Elections office.
Usie Richards’ petition for a recount of the absentee ballots stemmed from irregularities during the calling and tallying of votes Saturday.
As for the retabulation of the electronic voting machine cartridges, at least two couldn’t be read by the accompanying computer software so a printout was made of the results. Those were then entered by hand into a computer. Usie Richards requested a retabulation because of the possibility that errors were introduced.
"I haven’t discovered any violations of law or any fraud or mismanagement of electronic cartridges," he said. "All of us are human. Any oversight could have happened, under or over, and that process should be repeated."
