Lawmakers Ready for Another Round on Election Reform

The proposed legislation, Bill No. 0149, which is sponsored by Senator Alma Francis Heyliger, would require the VI Board of Elections to store and publish their records in an electronic format available online to the general public.

Currently, the VI Code only allows registered voters access to said records in-person under the supervision of a BOE official during its regularly scheduled business hours. While the expansion of access to BOE records would align more closely to the laws and practices of many States and municipalities in the United States, it has received forceful resistance from the VI Board of Elections during multiple hearings on the measure.

In December, the BOE Supervisor Caroline Fawkes expressed her opposition to Bill No. 0149 for several reasons, such as the potential publication of confidential information, the time frame for satisfying the legal requirements set forth in the bill, and the overall concept of opening up access to non-registered voters.

During the December meeting of the Rules and Judiciary session, and a subsequent hearing of the same committee on Dec. 22nd, the bill’s sponsor noted several instances where she amended the legislation in order to accommodate many of the concerns.

With regards to the potential publication of confidential information, Sen. Francis Heyliger stressed that the bill protected sensitive information such as addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, despite the BOE’s prior claims to the contrary. In response to a question posed by Sen. Francis Heyliger on Dec. 22, Fawkes herself admitted that Bill No. 0149 would not reveal such sensitive information.

Fawkes also opposed opening the records to non-registered voters and called the overall time frame for executing the project of 271 days unrealistic. With regards to the timeframe in which the BOE must execute the changes, Sen. Francis Heyliger pointed out that the bill extended the pushout date until June 2023 so that the project would not interfere with an election cycle. That was changed prior to the Dec. 22nd session of the Committee on Rules and Judiciary. Fawkes admitted that she had received an update pertaining to the extension of the deadline for implementation, but refused to answer if it satisfied the singular outstanding issue her office had cited to the Senator’s office ahead of that meeting.

Despite demonstrating a willingness to work with the BOE, Sen. Francis Heyliger absolutely refused to buck on the issue of expanding access to the general public as opposed to only registered voters.

“This bill has to do with transparency and “When it comes to the people of this Territory, it is important that access to information is there on their behalf. I do not wish to live in a community where people feel that their vote doesn't count.”

Despite the fierce resistance from the BOE, Bill No. 0149 seemed to garner some support and traction among the members of the committee. Senator Franklin D. Johnson joined in the call for greater transparency in governmental affairs.

“I definitely want to see some strength to our board and to the elections process,” said Sen. Johnson. “There’s many people in the Territory that [are] not confident that our system is fair. When measures like this come asking for clarity or for people to have the opportunity to see more and we try to show less, I think for me it’s a bad position to be in. Because people want to know more. They want to see more. They want to know that their vote is not going south.”

With Senator Novelle E. Francis and Senator Carla Joseph withholding their support, the motion to proceed with a vote on Bill No. 0149 failed to advance due to a 2-2 tie. A second vote by the Committee on Dec. 22nd held the bill in committee, but lawmakers will once again return to the measure on Thursday Feb. 10th.

The Committee on Rules and Judiciary’s session on Thursday Dec. 10 will be live-streamed on LEGIT TV, on the 34th Legislature’s homepage and on the Legislature’s Facebook page.