Flight delays pushed back the Joint Board of Elections meeting five hours and, in just over two hours, four items of the 20 listed on the agenda about the general election were discussed at Gertrude’s Restaurant on St. Croix.
The bickering typical of the St. Croix Elections board carried over to the joint board meeting. Voices were raised and there was very little agreement, although there were lengthy discussions. More than once, territorial Chairwoman Alecia Wells asked for silence and gaveled for order.
Present from St. Croix were St. Croix Chairman Adelbert Bryan, Rupert Ross, Raymond Williams, Liliana Belardo de O’Neal, Glenn Webster and Lisa Harris-Moorhead. From the St. Thomas/St. John district, Wells, Arturo Watlington Jr., Wilma Marsh-Monsanto and Lydia Hendricks attended. Harry Daniel, Claudette Georges and Lawrence Boschulte were absent.
Members of both boards talked about dealing with the DS200 voting machine glitch.
Because of a programing error that cannot be fixed before Nov. 4, the DS200 cannot read a ballot when a person votes by party symbol. In some cases, it will record more votes than allowed and, if over-voting occurs on a referendum, the ballot is rejected by the machine, Watlington said.
After much discussion, the territorial board approved a procedure wherein voters place their marked ballots in a secured, bottom bin of the machine. At the end of the day, voting judges, monitored by poll watchers or hired auditors, will sort the ballots into two groups. One will contain the ballots voted by party symbol and the rest will be sent through the machine to tabulate the votes. The party symbol ballots, and other spoiled ballots, will be placed in secure containers and evaluated by Elections board members at a later date. Other spoiled or rejected ballots will also be reviewed by the board, since one spoiled area does not automatically disqualify the entire ballot. The tabulated votes will be recorded and available to the public the same night.
The board’s counsel, Assistant Attorney General Kimberly Salisbury, expressed reservations about the logistics and handling the ballots. “It’s an unfortunate situation,” she said. “Human error is much more prevalent when counting ballots than machines.”
Since someone is handling every ballot cast, Watlington estimated there would be no results from St. John before 10 p.m.
The St. Thomas board members carried the vote with Moorhead and Ross. Bryan voted “nay” and Belardo, Moolenaar and Williams abstained.
The other motion that was passed set deadlines for completing the vote count and certifying the election in both districts. Ross moved that counting should be complete by Nov. 14 and election certified on Nov. 15. Bryan objected and voted against the measure, while Belardo and Moolenaar abstained.
The question of how to handle early votes was discussed briefly but nothing was decided. Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes discontinued early voting Monday after the Supreme Court ruled last week to remove ballots with Sen. Alicia “Chucky” Hansen’s name, since she was disqualified from running.
Bryan wanted to allow early voters up to two more ballots if their votes were rejected for one reason or another and then scanned into the DS200.
Hendricks pointed out that voters casting ballots on election day won’t be given another chance if their ballots are incorrect. Watlington added that the law states, according to Salisbury, that early ballots are not to be tabulated before election day.
The other items on the agenda that were not discussed included voting procedures, collecting, storing and counting ballots, auditors and judges. The next Joint Board meeting is December.
“Because of a programing error that cannot be fixed before Nov. 4, the DS200 cannot read a ballot when a person votes by party symbol. In some cases, it will record more votes than allowed and, if over-voting occurs on a referendum, the ballot is rejected by the machine, Watlington said.”!!!!!!
WTF. One of the main requirements in our voting system and the DS200 can not handle it…..? Totally unacceptable. Sounds like an open door for fraud. How can this be?????????????? We need to throw out all those for
certifying these machines for our election.
and on the St. John vote..why can’t they be counted in St. John before they are messed with on the ride to St. Thomas.
Why were Harry Daniels,Claudette Georges and Larry Boshulte absent from such an important meeting? The only acceptable reason would be if they were on their deathbed.
These people and others who deliberately miss important meetings, should not be allowed to remain on any board if they cannot perform their fiduciary duty.
Given the costs of this election I have to wonder why this meeting could not be held at the board of elections office or another government conference room, rather than at Gertrude’s restaurant.
To have these “glitches” with brand new DS200 machines unfixable prior to Nov.4 is disturbing. It fosters a level of distrust of how accurately votes will be counted, especially in such a contentious and acrimonious election year.
Maybe no one should vote and we could all take a year off with no governor,lt. governor nor any senators. That might be a refreshing change and certainly not any worse than having them in office. Plus it would save a bundle of money by not having anyone misspend, misuse, mismanage, misappropriate, waste, give away, or steal our money for a change. Nor paying them to do so.
Ok,Ok, this is all making sense now. By the time election day rolls around Bert’s name will wind up on the ballot in place of Chucky and he will win!! LOL! None of these Pirates should serve on ANY Government body anywhere. This is unbelievable – no I take that back. Not only is it believable but I expect it.
Is anyone really surprised? Look. Just look at who’s in politics. Do your research people!
There is no incentive to be honest anymore!
To prosper/lead in these islands you must have/be:
1. skeletons in your closet
2. family/friends in key positions
3. prior indiscretions
4. a willingness to engage in corruption
5. a criminal or civil charge helps your credibility
*Bonus:
Political endorsements from congressional cronies
It appears that the problem is with the programming in the machine and not the actual machine. When the machines were purchased the BOE must have contracted with a vendor to program the machines according to the BOE specifications. Whoever was responsible for testing the machines at the BOE during the programming process is at fault. They most likely just tested the Primary election voting which wouldn’t have needed the party symbol vote and signed off as all work completed with the programmer. This is why they are having a hard time getting the programmer to come back. There must be some dispute with the contract because the BOE already signed off with the programmer stating that everything was working correctly. You usually have to pay to get the programmer to come back.
VI Watchdog
I agree that Raymond Williams, Arturo Watlington, Alicia Wells and Ruoert Ross should not serve on any of these boards. They are trying to prevent the counting if ballots, so they can tamper with the ballot or switch the ballots. What do they mean by “we will determine the intent of the voter if their ballot is spoiled”. A spoiled ballot is spoiled. How do we know if the person really wanted the symbol or wanted the non-democrat. They are trying to rip off the election because the Democratic gubernatorial candidate looks weak and they want to get themselves re-elected if their own BOE terms are up.