Tensions mounted as the St. Thomas/St. John District Board of Elections, under pressure from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, held an emergency meeting to discuss late absentee ballots meant to be sent out to military and overseas voters by June 17.
The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, requires states to provide absentee ballots to absent voters no later than 45 days before a federal election. This makes the territory 10 days behind on its deadline for the Aug. 2 primary.
Under the MOVE Act, two people in the St. Thomas/St. John district and four territorywide are waiting for their absentee ballots and it is likely that they’re in for a longer wait.
The board struggled to pin down a timeframe for waiting voters, and there seemed to be general confusion about when the absentee ballots would be received and sent out.
On the Elections Systems of the Virgin Islands website, the ballots are set to be sent out in three days, but Chairman Arturo Watlington Jr. warned against making promises that can’t be kept.
Election Systems and Software, an election assistance company charged with creating and printing the ballots, is expected to print 20 percent of 52,000 primary ballots, amounting to 10,400 ballots. However, at this point it is still unclear when the ballots will arrive.
On June 13 the board met to vote on the draft of the ballot presented to them by ES&S. Watlington said there were attempts to meet prior to that date but some people were not available.
Since the meeting the ballot has undergone 17 revisions due to various errors, Watlington said. The board has had to correct misspelled names, fill in omissions and clarify bad instructions.
“I would venture to say that the St. Thomas/St. John Board and the Joint Board did their job,” said Watlington. We responded to problems with the draft in a timely fashion, he said.
The pressure is on since the board is under scrutiny for failing to comply with federal law. “If it is found that we willfully, maliciously or negligibly did not comply with the consent decree, the court can hold someone in contempt,” Watlington said.
“I detest this sort of thing,” said Wilma Marsh-Monsanto, a member of the Board of Elections. There needs to be more accountability, she said.
