With more than 400 ballots already cast early voting was suspended Sunday night in the wake of the V.I. Supreme Court re-affirming its decision that Sen. Alicia Hansen be removed from the ballot. According to a press release, Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes made the decision to comply with the Supreme Court order. It is anyone’s guess when early voting will resume and what course of action the St. Croix District Board of Elections and the Supervisor of Elections will take to ensure that the ballots for the Nov. 4 General Election are in compliance with the order handed down Friday. As part of the opinion by the justices, Supervisor Caroline Fawkes has been ordered to immediately recall all General Election ballots with Hansen’s name and replace them with ballots omitting her as a candidate or in the alternative “remove Hansen’s name from the ballot, such as by covering her name with a sticker”, the opinion read.
The justices ordered that the case be remanded back to Judge Douglas Brady in Superior Court with directions to make the factual findings and legal conclusions necessary to determine whether Fawkes should be held in contempt or otherwise sanctioned for her non-compliance with the prior orders of the Supreme Court and the Superior Court.
The ruling came after a back and forth in front of multiple courts and having Hansen being removed then placed back on the ballot, all stemming from St. Croix District Board of Elections Chairman Adelbert Bryan challenging Hansen’s eligibility after being convicted of willful failure to file taxes – a crime involving moral turpitude.
Full Article: Early voting put on hold on St. Croix – News – Virgin Islands Daily News.