Early voting during the 2020 General Election.
The Elections System of the Virgin Islands (ESVI) will turn 60 this month and plans are in place to celebrate with events across the territory.
The theme “Thriving with Integrity, Elections System Celebrates Sixty” will provide the cohesive thread running through the activity schedule, which begins on February 17 and culminates on February 25th.
Some events, such as the Open House which launches the week-long celebration, are by invitation only, however the calendar is studded with opportunities to learn about, discuss and celebrate the role the Election System has played in facilitating democracy in the territory for six decades.
A Retrospective Exhibit, covering events since the Election System of the Virgin Islands was created via Act 936 in February 1963 will be mounted at the ESVI office in Sunny Isles St. Croix starting on the 17th, which people can visit from 8am to 5pm on weekdays. On February 20th, the anniversary date itself, Government House will host Election System staff, board members and invited guests for a celebration.
On February 21 between 11am and 12:30pm, ESVI will convene a discussion forum between 11 am and 12:30 pm at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) Research and Technology Park, organized around the topic “From Jackson to Evans: The Fight for Representation and Universal Suffrage”.
Middle schoolers and Junior High students who have submitted “One Voice, One Vote”-themed essays in the current competition will convene at ESVI offices on St. Croix and St. Thomas on Wednesday February 22 to hear the announcements of the competition winners and participate in the prize presentations.
The next day, the 23rd, ESVI has planned a breezy, music-filled afternoon with Lunch at the Historical Ruins at Susannaberg, St. John, from 12 to 2pm. Later that evening, a one-hour television special will air simultaneously on WTJX and on the ESVI’s Facebook page, titled “ESVI Marking Milestones”. The program will feature “interviews with notable Virgin Islanders on the most significant moments in our political history”.
On Friday February 24 at 10 am, high schoolers will compete in the Election Trivia Pursuit Game Show, co-hosted by ESVI and the Department of Education on the UVI Kean Campus on St. Thomas, and then at 4:30 pm, a Jubilee Walk for Progress will move from Crystal Gade to Roosevelt Park, with music, drinks and hors d’oeuvres along the way.
The celebration week ends on Saturday evening with a Jubilee Gala for invited guests.
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