With the primary election coming up, Joint Board of Elections members on Monday looked at making some policy changes, in particular, how the candidates’ names appear on the ballot.

According to board members, the issue about allowing candidates to use nicknames has been extensively discussed over the last few months and the decision was made Monday to allow the candidates to decide on their own what they want to be called – just as long as the name doesn’t exceed 22 characters.

"People are known by their call names," said St. Thomas-St. John District Board of Elections chairman Arturo Watlington Jr. "They don’t have to be their actual, or official, names. The candidates have the right to put whatever they see fit, provided that they don’t exceed the character requirements as provided by law."

Board members said the vote became necessary after St. Croix Board of Elections members recently determined that the candidates should stick to using their legal, or given, names.

At the last Joint Board meeting in April, members also approved a policy stating that after a voter’s third attempt at using the electronic voting machines, the voter would have to sign a written consent waiving his or her right to privacy in order to get assistance from an Election System poll worker through the election judge, as prescribed by law.

On Monday, the board took up the issue again, and revoted, this time determining that a voter can use the machine up to three times before requesting assistance and, after that, they can choose to use a special machine that would give them oral instructions. Board members said this would help prevent spoiled ballots.

The board also decided to maintain all policies governing mail-in, absentee and faxed ballots, and after more discussion, decided to recess the meeting until some time before June 13 to allow board members to discuss other items on the agenda.