Sept. 9, 2006 – The island was alive Saturday with election campaigners by the dozens, waving colorful signs, hoisting bright posters and passing out handbills.
"Please, please give us a vote," was the mantra of the day as workers gently, and not so gently, vied with each other to be first in foisting their candidates' cards in voters' hands.
About 3 p.m. it looked like a healthy turnout. Maybe. Some said they were satisfied that voters were voting; others remained skeptical.
Political scholars Malik Sekou and Rudy Krigger stood by Ulla Muller Elementary School sporting signs for their candidates.
Sekou said it was a modest turnout. "There isn't a lot of excitement," he said. "In the 2002 general election, 10,000 voters were out by this time of day."
Krigger said, "From all the polls I've seen, there's about 25 percent undecided. I think a lot of people are waiting until the three teams are reduced to one, and then, they'll make up their minds."
"I've watched the elections from this spot for about the last 20 years, on and off," Krigger said.
Sekou said V.I. voters are unique. "We don't vote for an ideology; we don't vote for ethnicity; we vote on a personal level – for a personality that we know."
But Sekou said the real battle starts after the primary. "That's when the deals are made."
The voters seemed a happy lot, and at least one voter should get an A for effort.
Long-time resident Ted Luscz said he was voting at Charlotte Amalie High School early Saturday morning, when a woman asked him for some help on how to go about casting her vote. "She said she was from Dominica, and this was the first time she had ever voted in the U.S.," Luscz said. "She said she'd just walked all the way from Frenchman's Reef."
Voting varied by polling sites. Some sites were looking for customers.
The Joseph Sibilly and Joseph Gomez Elementary Schools, along with the Winston Raymo Recreation Center, remained virtually deserted for much of the morning and early afternoon.
At 11 a.m., only three voters were present at the Winston Raymo site.
At 2 p.m., only three residents stood in line at Gomez to cast their votes. "We've had about 275 individuals show up to vote so far," one election official said. "I'm not really surprised, though. It's usually like this during the primary. More people will most likely come out during the general election. Or maybe it will pick up later this afternoon."
Around 3 p.m., gubernatorial candidate Judge Edgar Ross and his running mate, Sen. Lorraine Berry, visited Addelita Cancryn Junior High School. While chatting with workers at candidates John deJongh and Gregory Francis' booth, Berry said that most voters on a Saturday "come out later in the afternoon, after they've done morning chores."
As of 3:30 p.m., 612 people had voted at the Joseph E. Sibilly School; seven of the votes were provisional. Campaign worker Colette Monroe said voters had been "trickling" in all day at the North Side polling location.
One late afternoon voter came with sand on her feet. "I left the beach to vote, " Kathryn McAllister said.
As of about 4 p.m., 438 had voted at Muller School; 390 at Cancryn; and 470 at Charlotte Amalie High School.
Note: Shaun Pennington and Ananta Pancham contributed to this report.
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