Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg outpaced by several lengths the pack of candidates for St. Thomas-St. John senatorial seats Tuesday, beating out his nearest rival, former Sen. Celestino White, by more than 1,600 votes.
Two incumbents battled for the seventh and final seat, with Sen. George Goodwin edging out Sen. Lorraine Berry by 115 votes. However, Berry could conceivably run seventh when absentee ballots are counted.
The top vote-getters are as follows.
1. Adlah Donastorg, 7446
2. Celestino White, 5824
3. Donald Cole, 5614
4. Carlton Dowe, 5450
5. Roosevelt David, 5425
6. Norma Pickard Samuel, 5115
7. George Goodwin, 4998
Final returns were not tallied until nearly 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, as election officials decided to keep polls open until 10 p.m. A high voter turnout that could be as much as 60 percent of registered voters coupled with a lack of resources were given as the reasons for the decision.
The final vote totals must be certified by the Board of Elections after absentee ballots are in. That could take up to 10 days.
In the other major races, incumbent Sen.-at-Large Almando "Rocky" Liburd beat challenger Craig Barshinger by a vote of 13,210 to 7,059.
Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen will go back to Washington after garnering 18,025 votes versus 3,444 for Victor Frazer and 1.541 for Jorge Estemac.
