Uncertain of the legality of the board’s initial “certification” last week of the St. Thomas-St. John District primary election, the board certified the election again during a meeting Monday. Still, one board member, several candidates and several members of the public, at least, are questioning whether the election was legitimate – despite two rounds of certification. “Anything after the deadline makes it illegal,” said board member Wilma Marsh-Monsanto, the single board member present to abstain from voting to approve the official certification of the election on Monday. Board Chairman Arturo Watlington Jr., Vice-chairman Harry Daniel, Secretary Claudette Georges, member Lydia Hendricks and member Larry Boschulte were also present and voted to certify the election. The board initially convened in a special meeting Monday to ratify the original certification actions taken by the board, in which Daniel, Georges and Boschulte voted to certify the election a week ago, along with member Alecia Wells, who attended the meeting via teleconference and cast her vote via an electronic signature sent over a fax machine.“You can’t vote. There was not a quorum,” said Watlington, who requested that the board vote again, because he did not concur with legal counsel, Kim Salisbury, that the initial vote could have been ratified this week to make it official.
Marsh-Monsanto said that she abstained from voting because, for various reasons, saying that the law had been violated because of the passed deadline, questioning Boschulte’s vote because he is a candidate in the election and claiming that more than 3,000 ballots were missing. The meeting was adjourned following Marsh-Monsanto’s objections to the certification, and thereafter the board members dissolved into bickering and name-calling.
Full Article: St. Thomas Elections Board finally officially certifies primary results – News – Virgin Islands Daily News.