Democratic Party incumbents survive during primary election with low voter turnout

Former Sen. Kurt Vialet, returning to the Democratic Party to run for a seat in the 36th Legislature, was the top vote-getter in Saturday’s Democratic Party primary election.

Vialet, who ran as an in Indepedent when he sought to unseat incumbent Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., won with an overall 1,233 votes. According to the Elections Office, of the 20,350 registered Democrats a total of 2,490 residents or 12.24% percent of voters cast ballots. The unofficial results released by the Elections System of the Virgin Islands were a combination of early voting and primary election ballots, Deputy Supervisor of Elections Terrell Alexandre told The Daily News on Sunday.

A total of 101 absentee ballots — with 82 already submitted to the Elections office — will be counted beginning at 3 p.m. today, he said. After votes were tallied Saturday night, newcomer and former Fire Services Director Clifford Joseph was second top vote-getter with 1,023 votes, followed by incumbent senator and current Senate president, Novelle E. Francis Jr., with 939 votes.