Senate Committee Continues Work on Elections Transparency Measure

ST. THOMAS - Lawmakers opted once again to review and adjust proposed legislation that strives to bolster transparency in publicly available records held by the VI Board Elections (BOE).

Members of the 34th Legislature’s Committee on Rules and Judiciary continued its efforts to tweak Bill No. 0149, which would require the BOE to store and publish records in an electronic format, during a committee hearing held in St. Thomas on Wednesday, Dec. 22nd.

The measure seeks to update a portion of the VI Code, first enacted in 1963, in order to keep the law current with technological advancements and voting practices consistent with many States and territories across the region.

“This bill has to do with transparency and making sure that the public has access to information,” said Sen. Alma Francis Heyliger, who introduced the bill as a non-voting member of the committee.

The freshman lawmaker, Sen. Francis Heyliger, returned ready to advocate on behalf of governmental transparency and reticent to rebut prior objections made by the BOE that appeared to first stall the bill in the Rules and Judiciary Committee on December 9th.

When Bill No. 0149 had first appeared in the Rules and Judiciary committee on December 9th, said Sen. Francis Heyliger, BOE Supervisor Caroline Fawkes based the BOE’s opposition to the bill on opening its records to non-registered voters and the manpower ability to satisfy the prescribed turnaround times.

A staunch and unequivocal advocate of governmental transparency and accountability, Sen. Francis Heyliger recounted how her office had crafted an amendment to address last minute concerns first lobbied by the BOE over turnaround times, but refused to compromise on legal language that would grant access to all taxpayers, not just registered voters. During the committee hearing held just a short time earlier, the BOE stated it had not reviewed the amendment and did not address the changes to the bill at that time.

Despite Sen. Francis Heyliger’s point-by-point rebuttal to the BOE’s original claims on Dec. 9th, BOE Supervisor Fawkes not only reiterated her objection of Bill No. 0149 but buttressed her opposition with additional arguments.

Fawkes claimed that the current law does not discriminate against non-registered voters, since they do not legally qualify as a protected group of persons. Additionally, Fawkes called the timeline of 270 days for the BOE to publish paper records online in a digital format “unrealistic” and overall opposed the concept of the Legislature mandating the deadlines for fulfilling requests for documents.

“As stated at the last hearing, the Office of the Supervisor disagrees with the Legislature creating laws delineating the administrative functions of our entity,” said Supervisor Fawkes during her testimony. “The duty of the Legislature is to make and pass laws governing the Virgin Islands, not to generate policy for the Executive branch and other semi-autonomous agencies of government. It is our firm held opinion that this body cannot legislate operations.”

Senator Franklin D. Johnson asked the BOE how long they estimated it would take in order to implement the system as outlined in the bill. Fawkes responded that she believed it would take the office 365 days from the end of the next election cycle, which ends in December 2022.

“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.”

Sen. Johnson went on to say: “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.”

During a point of information, Sen. Francis Heyliger pointed out that the bill allowed the BOE until June 2023 to accomplish the goal set forth in the measure on the very basis that it could potentially interfere with an election year.

Supervisor Fawkes admitted that she had received an update pertaining to the extension of the deadline for implementation, but refused to answer if it met the singular outstanding issue her office had cited to the bill’s sponsor prior to the December 22nd meeting.

Fawkes would later note the anemic state of BOE staffing in response to a line of questioning posed by Senator Genevieve R. Whitaker, saying it would require an additional three staffers in order to accomplish the task.

In response to questions posed by the Committee’s Chairman, Senator Milton E. Potter, Supervisor Fawkes said that the BOE rejected the mandate to fulfill document requests within 10 business days–two calendar weeks–and altogether the idea of a deadline for doing so.

Senator Novelle E. Francis, Jr. and Senator Carla Joseph, a former member of the Board of Elections, expressed concerns about the potential for misuse of voter information by making it more accessible to the public and stressed the need for further security.

With a yellow copy of the legislation in hand, the bill’s sponsor passionately asked Fawkes, the BOE supervisor, if the legislation would enable the publication of personal identifying information. Fawkes ultimately said, no, the bill would not reveal such personal information.

When it finally came time for her round of questioning, the bill’s sponsor smiled and had a chuckle with the committee’s chairman, Sen. Potter.

“Lord, I have so much to clear up today,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger, after having already defended most of the bill’s tenets.

Instead of further dissecting the bill, which had previously been vetted with only minor outstanding concerns, Sen. Francis Heyliger used a fair portion of her during her allotted four minutes of questioning to cite several of the 24 states that enforce laws similar to the one she sponsored.

After an impassioned plea from the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Whitaker proposed an amendment, which failed to advance due to a 2 to 2 tie. The Rules and Judiciary committee ultimately decided to hold the bill in committee for further consideration in a 4 to 1 vote, with two members absent.

“When it comes to the people of this Territory, it is important that access to information is there on their behalf,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger during her final point of information. “I do not wish to live in a community where people feel that their vote does not count. I applaud our elections system for all of their hard work, but I do not agree with several of the things that were stated in the testimony from the Office of the Supervisor, namely that legislators need to keep their place and basically not legislate.”

As the Rules and Judiciary continues to iron out the legislation, the Committee’s Chairman, Senator Milton E. Potter, offered an avenue to success.

“I agree with the intent of the bill,” said Sen. Potter. “I think where we have a small point of contention is the distinction between who will have access to the information–whether we go full all out, open it up to anyone and and every one–and whether we have the controls right now in the system to properly police that if there were events of fraud.” Absent that, the chairman of the committee said he would support the legislation.