Officials at the Board of Elections and the Elections System used their most recent meeting to advance preparations for the current voting cycle. Among the actions taken, board officials approved the purchase of new voting machines.
Elections board members also announced renamed locations and plans to show voters where to cast their votes. The purchase of 70 Express poll printers was justified as an effort to increase efficiency of processing votes.
Board members meeting on July 25 approved the purchase at a cost of $63,040, according to an elections system press release.
Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes outlined several steps being taken to streamline the voting process in the report submitted to the elections board.
Both the Board of Elections and the Elections System of the Virgin Islands are scheduled to appear at Finance Committee hearings on the fiscal year 2024 executive budget. Fawkes told the board at the Tuesday meeting that she and her staff are preparing to testify at that hearing on Aug. 1.
The renaming of V.I. polling places and voting centers as voting precincts came along with details on what the public can expect.
“In the STX district we decided to name the voting precincts after former Board members and staff of the Elections System of the Virgin Islands.”
The supervisor said letters went out to former members and staffers or their next of kin, asking their permission. “All of the honorees or their next of kin accepted our request to rename the precinct after the honoree,” the supervisor said.
St. Croix polling sites will now be named after Carmen M. Golden, Dodson James, Corrinne Plaskett, Evelyn Messer James, Malcolm Plaskett, John Abramson, Jr., Adelbert M. Bryan, Usie Raymond Richards, Eulalie Rivera Precinct, and Rupert W. Ross Precinct.
Some polls on the big island will also consolidate. In the District of St. Croix, Alfredo Andrews Elementary School is merged with the Evelyn Messer James Precinct. John F. Kennedy became part of the Dodson K. James Precinct. And voters reporting to the poll at the Florence Williams Library will be redirected to centers in the Carmen M. Golden Precinct.
By early September, Fawkes said the system’s Powerprofiles will be updated to reflect the change and voters in those respective districts will receive notices through the mail.
In the St. Thomas-St. John district voting precinct names include the Charlotte Amalie Precinct, Altona & Welgunst Precinct, North Star Precinct, East End Precinct, Anna’s Retreat Precinct, Frenchman’s Bay Precinct, Anna’s Retreat Precinct, Estate Tutu Precinct, and West End Precinct.
On St. John, the Julius E. Sprauve School poll will now be known as the Cruz Bay Precinct; the Coral Bay Precinct is the new name for the polling place on the island’s east side.
Polling places in the St. Thomas- St. John District are also merging.
“In the STT-STJ District, the following precincts CAHS Gym, Winston Raymo and Oswald Harris Court were merged. Addelita Cancryn and Ulla Muller 1 and 2 were merged. They decided to name their polling precincts after the communities where the previous polling places were located,” Fawkes said.
Changes to Title 18 of the Virgin Islands Code now allow the supervisor of Elections to plan, prepare and carry out elections. With that in mind, Fawkes said she obtained permission from the board to rename polling places that were not tied to specific locations.
Board members attending the in-person July 25 meeting included Chairwoman Alecia Wells, Vice-Chair Shikima Jones-Sprauve, Secretary Lydia Hendricks; Board Members Florine Audain-Hassell, Kareem Francis, Epiphane Joseph, Michael Joseph, Atanya Springette, Arturo Watlington Jr.; and Raymond Williams.
