A non-partisan group of young professionals has been seeking to increase voter awareness among community members through a series of registration drives across St. Thomas.
Called Get Involved V.I., the group has held after-work events that also brought St. Thomas-St. John District Board of Elections members out for demonstrations of the territory’s new voting machines and to answer questions from potential voters.
The group’s first event was about two weeks ago at Yacht Haven Grande on St. Thomas. Pulling the after-work crowd out for a voting happy hour, the group set up at Fresh Bistro and began registering new voters, giving them a chance to interact with Senate and gubernatorial candidates that also came out.
“The is our first focus right now: to get people registered to vote,” Get Involved V.I. organizer Su-Layne Walker said. “The purpose of the group is to increase the number of voters between the ages of 18 to 40, and the theory behind our group is that once we get more people registered to vote, the politicians will have to pay attention to us. We are a bigger electorate and as such, they have to take us into account. They have to consider whether we want higher taxes, lower taxes, income changes as it relates to the Government Employees Retirement System, because all of those things affect our group.”
Walker said the absence of a real middle class in the Virgin Islands has made it more difficult for 25 to 40 year olds to compete with others in the same age group on the mainland, so it is critical to elect the right officials to address some of those issues.
“We’re a group of young professionals, locals, that has decided it’s time for a change,” Walker added. “We started off as complainers and now we’re acting, and we want our group and people that come out to not only register to vote, but to actually get out to the polls and hold our elected officials accountable.”
Christina Quetel, registered to vote at one of the group’s recent events. A St. Thomas native who recently moved back home from California, Quetel said registering to vote was important to her, and took advantage of the event to get more information.
“I recently moved back to the to the V.I. and it was very important to me to register to vote because part of being a good citizen is getting involved in the changes you want to see,” Quetel said. “The whole process was very easy. I got registered at the Get Involved V.I. event and then stopped by the Elections office to take my picture and get my card. The gentlemen who registered me even called to remind me to come down.”
Quetel said she was able to get the card quickly on Friday, spending less than an hour in the Elections Office on St. Thomas.
“And this is why we have decided to host these voter awareness and voter registration drives,” Walker said. “We’re a non-partisan group, so we’re not endorsing any candidates, but we hope to give as many people as possible the chance to get involved again and make a difference.”
Another drive was held at Tutu Park Mall on Saturday, and Walker said that the group will continue to have other happy hour drives, along with a forum and possibly even a “jam” for even younger voters.