Board Of Elections On Ballot Requirements: It’s Either Your Nickname Or Real Name; Not Both

Early voting dates and times extended.

ST. CROIX — At a meeting on Wednesday, St. Croix Board of Elections members discussed a myriad of issues and moved to consolidate the Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School polling station with the Canegata Ballpark Center, because of Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) compliance issues. The school had apparently failed various tests, including parking problems as well as restroom shortcomings.

Board members also briefly explained — at yesterday’s meeting as well as last week’s Joint Board gathering — an issue that has been ignored by candidates seeking public office, but is required in Virgin Islands Code: Using nicknames and real names on ballots.

For example, if St. Croix board member Aldelbert M. Bryan, who is known by his moniker “Bert Bryan” decides to seek reelection, Mr. Bryan must choose between his full name or moniker, not both. So he’d be forbidden from using Adelbert “Bert” Bryan.

Another example of someone well-known by her moniker is Alicia “Chucky” Hansen. Mrs. Hansen, then, cannot run as Alicia “Chucky” Hansen, according to Virgin Islands Code. She would either have to use “Alicia Hansen” or “Chucky Hansen”.

The issue was first brought to the fore by member Bryan at last week’s Joint Board meeting. At that meeting, St. Croix board member Lisa Harris-Moorhead pointed to what she deemed the hypocrisy of Mr. Bryan’s concern, noting that he too had used his name and nickname combined on the ballot in the past.

St. Croix Board of Elections member Lisa Harris-Moorhead.

“I’m not going to sit here through this election and allow people to get in personal things without calling them out. It’s hypocritical of member Bryan to suggest that people can’t use nicknames when he ran as Bert Bryan,” she said. “It’s hypocritical. That’s how you ran, nobody challenged you. You have a personal issue with somebody who has a nickname and then we have to suffer through this from now to November.”

Mr. Bryan said he filed a petition “according to what was allowed. “The law has been clear since then,” he said.

Board members also discussed at last week’s Joint Board meeting the issue of candidates filing for public office without appropriate addresses and even without phone numbers (Mrs. Hansen did not provide an address or telephone number in her filing, seen here). They argued that while there was not much they could do in regards to disqualifying the candidates because the rules of the Elections System does not supersede V.I. Code, which does not state explicitly that candidates must provide addresses and phone numbers, measures could be taken to get candidates to comply.

“There is no issue if people are following the code. What our are procedures are are not law,” Mrs. Harris-Moorhead said. “I disagree with [Elections Supervisor] Caroline Fawkes that there’s nothing that she can do. We can issue a press release [stating that] if we don’t have sufficient information to contact you, we will not entertain any challenge later on.”

Yesterday, the St. Croix board said it would open its office located in the Sunny Isle Annex on July 2 and 3 from 12 noon to 3:00 p.m., and from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon on July 4 to allow citizens to register to vote. The board extended early voting from 12 noon to 3:00 p.m. over the July 4 holiday weekend in an effort to accommodate residents. The office will also be open on July 5 and 6 from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.. for early voting.

In other action, the board set a tentative date of June 16 to visit the Golden Grove Correctional Facility in an effort to get inmates registered and to provide information on how to use the machines. The board also decided to host a machine-testing event on July 11 at 5:30 p.m. for the primary election.

Board members present yesterday included Chairwoman Lillian Belardo de O’Neal, Mr. Bryan, Roland Molenaar and Mrs. Harris-Moorhead. Suspended member Glenn Webster also attended, but he did not participate.

Feature Image: Adelbert M. Bryan (Ernice Gilbert, VIC).