Many voters throughout the territory didn’t let Tropical Storm Bertha stop them from going to the polls Saturday morning. On St. Croix, the early turnout was higher than in three of the four primary elections of the past six years, according to the Elections System of the Virgin Islands.
Polling places will remain open until 7 p.m.
According to an afternoon news release by the Elections System, 2,010 voters had cast ballots by noon Saturday, a turnout of 11.1 percent. That was a higher percentage turnout than had voted by noon in the primary elections in 2012 (7.16 percent,) and 2008 (9.8 percent.) Only in 2010, the most recent gubernatorial primary election, was the turnout on St. Croix higher, when 18.7 percent had voted by noon.
St. Croix has 18,104 registered voters, according to the Elections System.
In the St. Thomas/St. John District, the numbers were slightly lower, with 1,631 ballots cast by noon on the two islands, according to the release. The St. Thomas/St. John District noon report did not include the total number of voters, so the percentage turnout could not be determined. It also did not provide previous results for previous years to compare this year’s noon turnout to.
On St. Croix, the highest turnouts were reported at Ricardo Richards School, 140; Alexander Henderson School, 142; Pearl B. Larsen School, 185, and Elena Christian School 133. The lowest turnouts as of noon Saturday were at Claude O. Markoe, 27 ballots; St. Gerard’s Hall, 26; and Alfredo Andrews, 29.
On St. Thomas, the highest noon turnouts were reported at Kirwin Terrace, 231; Anna’s Retreat, 176; and E. Benjamin Oliver School, 123.
On St. John, which has only one polling place, at Julius Sprauve Elementary School, 66 of the island’s voters had cast ballots by noon.
