Hansen Changes Legal Name To ‘Alicia Chucky Hansen’ Ahead Of General Election

ST. CROIX — In June, The Consortium reported on a Joint Board of Elections meeting where board members explained 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 Alden Pickering, widely known as Alicia “Chucky” Hansen. Mrs. Hansen, then, could not run as Alicia “Chucky” Hansen, according to Virgin Islands Code. She would either have to use her real name or the moniker, “Chucky Hansen”.

Two months after our report, Mrs. Hansen, who views her chances of winning as using the name she is best known for on the ballot: “Alicia “Chucky” Hansen”, has applied for a name change at the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, from Alden Alicia Pickering, to Alicia Chucky Hansen, according to a Superior Court public notice.

Related Story: [What’s In A Name: ‘Chucky’, Chuckie’, ‘Chooky’?]

The move may seem trivial because for years, many have thought that the candidate’s legal name was Alicia Hansen, which has been used with “Chucky” in the middle on ballots in the past. But with the Superior Court’s revelation that Mrs. Hansen’s name was legally registered as Alden Alicia Pickering — which would have to appear on this year’s ballots as is or as her moniker, “Chucky Hansen” — Mrs. Hansen’s decision to change her legal name to Alicia “Chucky” Hansen appears to make sense. Many, however, have argued that monikers should not be included on ballots.

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

“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.

Mrs. Hansen, however — running for a Senate seat in the General Election this November — isn’t taking any chances with Board of Elections’s members arguments.