At The Polls: St. Croix Comes Out For Christensen and Mapp

Tuesday’s Run-Off Election began a little wet and overcast on St. Croix; but by mid-afternoon, the sun was in full force and so were campaign supporters all across the island. The VI Consortium caught up with voters and workers stationed at the Claude O. Markoe Elementary School in Frederiksted.

Rikiya Haywood had just finished casting her vote when she stopped outside the school to share her experience with the VI Consortium.

“It was good; there was no pressure or anyone pushing you or telling you what to do, or anything like that,” she said.

As opposed to the November 4 General Election, residents who voted in the November 18 runoff had full use of the DS200 voting machines. After voters selected one of the two gubernatorial candidate teams–Donna Christensen-Basil Ottley or Kenneth Mapp-Osbert Potter–they then fed the ballot into the machine, which confirmed if the vote was recorded or if there was an error.

Haywood said the process was much more efficient.

“This time with the machine, it was quick,” she said. “I feel more content, more secure with that because we don’t have to go through this thing again with them having to count [the ballots], and it’s automatically counted now, so that’s better.”

Haywood was making reference to the procedure adopted by the Joint Boards of Elections during the November 4 election where modified use of the DS200 machines allowed for a portion of the ballots to be scanned, while a significant number of them were hand counted. Many felt this maneuver caused an unnecessary delay in final election results being announced.

Heywood, a Mapp supporter, said she voted for the former lieutenant governor because “I believe in him from all the times he has been running for governor; I’ve always had my trust in him, so I just know we’re going to have a little difference.”

Haywood went on to say that her vote was cast with her six-year-old daughter in mind.

“I’m not voting for myself,” she said. “I’m voting for my daughter’s future, too. Things need to get better around here.”

Inside the polling site, the VI Consortium caught up with election judge, Elaine Spencer. She said that as of 12:47 today, 159 voters had filed through her St. Girards’s Hall precinct, which was being housed at the elementary school. She said the precinct has a total of 551 registered voters.

When residents arrive to vote, there are persons designated as facilitators and others as monitors, as well as an election judge. Spencer explained the difference between the roles.

“The judge is over everyone, all of the workers. The monitors monitor the process so that when the voter proceeds to the voting station, the monitor assist them; and the facilitator assist the judge,” she said. “If I’m tied up with a voter, the facilitator steps in and assists the judge.”

She went on to explain that the role of the judge is to assist voters with any variety of issues they may have. Just then, Spencer observed a voter at the DS200 having some difficulty with the machine, so she went to provide some assistance and rejoined our conversation a few minutes later.

Spencer explained that after voters cast their vote, they can scan the ballot using the DS200 “and it shows them that their ballot has been accepted.”

She went on to say that the machine has a feature called a “public count,” and if, for instance, “it was at 150, and you scan your ballot, it goes to 151 and it shows you immediately that your vote has been accepted.”

She then opted to explain the problem the voter was having that required her assistance.

“She had a problem on her ballot, so she had to eject it out,” Spencer said. “[The machine] asked her ‘do you want to cast it with a mistake or do you want to take it out and correct it.’ So, she took it out, she corrected it, and she just completed the process.”

Spencer said each time a mistake is made on a ballot, the voter is required to fill in a new one. She pointed out that all spoiled ballots are marked accordingly and the voter is re-issued a ballot.

When asked how many times a voter can spoil a ballot, Spencer said, “Three, before asking for assistance from someone from the outside that they trust.”

After polls close at 7 tonight, Spencer said it is a fairly simple task to have votes tallied.

“At the end of the evening when we close the polls, [the machine] does a tally and then it gives me a tape and the jump drive, and both should match,” she explained, adding that when she and the other judges are escorted to Elections System offices on the respective islands, “they just plug in [the jump drive] and you get the results right away.”