The Senate Government Operations, Veterans Affairs, and Consumer Protection Committee on Thursday shelved a bill that would have allowed some Virgin Islands voters to cast hand‑counted paper ballots, leaving the territory’s existing machine‑tabulated voting system unchanged for now.
On a 4–2 vote, with one member absent, lawmakers agreed to hold Bill 36‑0187 in committee at the call of the chair after election officials warned the proposal would drive up costs, delay results and complicate polling‑place operations. Senators also cited unanswered questions about logistics and legal authority.
Sen. Franklin D. Johnson, who promoted the bill as a “voters’ choice” amendment to the election code, said it would not eliminate the DS200 tabulators or ExpressVote machines now used in Virgin Islands elections. Instead, his revision would allow any voter who asks for one to receive a hand‑marked paper ballot to be placed in a separate, sealed ballot box and counted manually under rules for public observation, chain‑of‑custody logs and written reconciliation before results are certified.
Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes and Board of Elections Chair Raymond Williams urged senators to reject or delay the proposal, noting that election officials received Johnson’s revised amendment around 4:45 p.m. the day before the hearing and that the board had not met to review it.
Fawkes testified that the existing DS200 and ExpressVote system already relies on paper records, postelection audits and accuracy testing. She argued that creating a second-hand-count process “would undermine accuracy, consistency, security, and public confidence” by introducing more opportunities for human error and inconsistent procedures across precincts.
Williams separately warned that unresolved conflicts in election law over the respective powers of the Board of Elections and the supervisor’s office should be addressed before adding a new hand-count system. Pointing to overlapping responsibilities under Act 8690, he said the law “is giving the supervisor … and the board the same responsibilities.” He urged lawmakers to resolve those governance questions before making further changes to how votes are counted.
Sen. Alma Francis Heyliger said she was reluctant to change vote-counting procedures without clearer data on how many voters would actually use a hand-count option and what the added system would cost. Lawmakers, she said, must determine whether creating a new labor-intensive process is justified.
Sen. Kenneth L. Gittens focused on potential conflicts between the Board of Elections and the supervisor’s office if a hand-count system is added before existing election laws are clarified.
“What I don’t want is for us to create any further friction between the board and the election system,” Gittens said, urging lawmakers to clarify the statutory responsibilities of each office “before we move forward.”
Sen. Avery L. Lewis recalled his experiences during past elections as he expressed reluctance to revisit widespread hand counts. He said he remembered it taking “two, three days” to find out who won and that there were “all kind of discrepancies” and “improprieties and different things” under the old system, before people pushed to “go the electronic way.” Summing up his position, Lewis said: “Onward, never backward.”
Citing those unresolved concerns, the committee majority ultimately chose to hold the bill rather than advance it.
