With five weeks left until the 2024 Primary Election, the Board of Elections approved and rejected proposed voting procedures during their monthly meeting held Wednesday. They also voted to accept the proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 and approved salary hikes for top election administrators.
Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes, along with Deputy Supervisors Terrell Alexandre and Kevermay Douglas and Executive Assistant Richard Wilson, were approved for raises of $10,000 apiece. The vote to approve came during an executive session closed to public viewing. An amendment to delay the raises until documentation could be presented to the board failed on a procedural basis.
Board members also rejected a measure that would change the way ballots are counted. Board member Harriet Mercer offered a motion saying that ballots should be counted at the polling centers where they are cast. Among the opponents was attorney Lisa Harris-Moorhead.
“We never unlock the boxes at the polls,” she said. Fawkes added that to do otherwise would violate election laws.
“To change the procedure, you’ve got to change the law,” the supervisor said. Member Epiphane Joseph said he didn’t understand the motion.
However, the board did vote to set the percentage of votes that can be cast using paper ballots: 10 percent for the Aug. 3 primary and 30 percent for the General Election on Nov. 5.
Only one vote came close to unanimous approval in the Wednesday session: members approved a proposed budget of $427,860 for the next spending year. Board member Lydia Hendricks commended Fawkes for her public defense of budgets for both the Board of Elections and the Election System of the Virgin Islands during a recent Senate hearing.
