Delegate Stacey Plaskett secures a landslide victory, voter turnout surpasses 50%, and write-in candidates fill critical positions, marking the conclusion of the election cycle. Photo Credit: ERNICE GILBERT, V.I. CONSORTIUM
Official results for elections in the territory were released on Friday by the Election Systems of the Virgin Islands.
On the evening of November 5, results were tallied from early and in-person votes; however in the following days, absentee and provisional ballots were processed and added to the vote counts.
In the territorial races for Delegate to the House of Representatives and the at-large seat in the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, the addition of absentee and provisional ballots to the preliminary figures changed nothing but the final vote total. Representative Stacey Plaskett, who was re-elected in a landslide, increased her lead over second place finisher Ida Smith by a further 284 votes. Ms. Plaskett (D) officially garnered 10,397 votes to Ms. Smith's (I) 2,323. Ronald Pickard (R) received an updated total of 1,348 votes, 37 more than where he stood on the night of Nov. 5.
The rankings in the St. Croix senate race were unaffected by the addition of absentee and provisional ballots to the vote totals, however on St. Thomas, incumbent senator Carla Joseph overtook newcomer Avery Lewis to finish fifth in the standings.
Senator Joseph, who stood 6th overall on November 5 with 3,338 votes, received 144 absentee votes and 1 provisional vote, ending up with an official result of 3,483 votes. Meanwhile, Mr. Lewis received 121 absentee ballots, taking his vote total from 3,349 to 3,470. He must now settle for sixth place in the rankings.
New since November 5 is the selection of the at-large representative to the Board of Education. Abigail Hendricks emerged as the winner of that race, with 17 out of the 378 write-in ballots cast.
The St. John representative on the Board of Elections was also selected by write-in votes; Nathan Fletcher won 23 of the 144 votes cast for that position.
Meanwhile, the empty seats for St. Thomas/St. John representatives for the sixth constitutional convention have also been filled. Of the 680 write-in votes cast, Lydia Hendricks received 91, Imani Daniel received 80, and Akima Richardson received 31. They will join the four candidates initially listed on the ballot to field a full complement of seven candidates for the district.
In total, 15,952 of the territory's 31,171 registered voters participated during this election cycle, leading to a territory-wide voter participation rate of 51.78%. A majority of voters – over 8500 – cast ballots early, while the bulk of the remaining voters showed up on Election Day. A sizeable number – 613 – cast absentee ballots, while one voter required a provisional ballot, which was counted.
With the certification of the 2024 general election results, this election cycle is officially complete. In 2026, a gubernatorial year, voters will once again choose their representatives.
