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Elections Supervisor Ordered to Apologize to Poll Watcher; Ballot Box Complaint Triggers Legal Review

Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes owes Ann Maria Paul Williams a public apology, the Board of Elections decided during a meeting on Friday. Board members also voted to seek advice from the Attorney General on the laws governing the kind of ballot boxes that are required at polling stations. The decisions were taken as a result of two complaints that were heard during Friday's 3-hour special hearing by the board. The first, from Ms. Williams, alleged mistreatment at the hands of law enforcement and elections officials. The senior citizen worked as a poll watcher during last year's election cycle, she said. On October 14, 2024, at the beginning of the early voting exercise, she says she was at a polling station when she was ushered out into the foyer by the Deputy Supervisor of Elections for St. Thomas/St. John Kevermay Douglas. When she began speaking to queued voters about what was going on, a police officer became irate, and began loudly cursing both herself and a board member who...