Elections Supervison Caroline Fawkes. Photo Credit: V.I. LEGISLATURE.
The V.I. Board of Elections on Monday continued a meeting that had begun the previous week, ultimately voting to approve budgets for both the board and the office of Supervisor of Elections.
Despite having passed the budget for the Supervisor of Elections during Friday's portion of the meeting, once proceedings got underway on Monday afternoon, board member Barbara LaRonde attempted to revisit the issue. “I motion that we pull..the Office of Elections budget back from our beginning of this meeting, and take a closer look at how it's actually done,” she said. “I know…it was decided that we would accept it, but as I scrutinized it more this weekend, I think it needs to be pulled back,” Ms. LaRonde explained. “Things…are definitely not making sense.”
The motion was seconded by board member Harriet Mercer, and passed with five members in favor and four against. Five members were absent for the vote. With that, the board retired into executive session to consider both budgets.
Upon returning from executive session, the board unanimously approved its own operational budget, leaving the earlier approval of the Supervisor of Elections' budget unchanged.
Documents and information pertaining to expenditures for the 2022-2023 fiscal year from the Office of the Supervisor, in addition to a report on additional election-year funds received, were formally requested.
The board went on to formally ratify its committees in accordance with its bylaws.
Before adjourning, member Cleopatra Peter posed a question. “The last election that we had, Supervisor Fawkes went to the Senate and said that she's in control of the election,” she reminded her fellow board members. “Is Caroline Fawkes or Supervisor Fawkes in charge of the 2026 election?”
“We're waiting for a letter back from the Attorney General on that question,” said Vice Chair Lawrence Boschulte.
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