During a three-hour frenzied emergency meeting held by the Board of the Elections System of the Virgin Islands, the board, members of the organization, and the public were present to discuss the disqualification of Ida Smith’s candidacy for Delegate to Congress in the upcoming election.
Smith requested the hearing to “show cause to vacate disqualification and restore voter’s registration.” After a lengthy discussion, with testimony from Smith and the supervisor of elections, Caroline Fawkes, who rendered Smith’s application ineligible on the grounds of “dual voter registration,” the Elections Board decided to wait until more information can be gathered to vote on Smith’s disqualification, though early voting for the general election is in seven weeks and the primary election just ten weeks away.
According to the Elections office, candidates are unable to run for office if they are registered to vote in more than one state. Smith, who was registered to vote in both the Virgin Islands and New York, said that in February, she submitted a request for her voter registration to be canceled in New York. However, according to Fawkes, records indicate that Smith’s New York registration was canceled on July 24, almost a month after the June 11 certification of nominees deadline.
The emergency meeting opened with the reading of the latest letter submitted by Smith for the meeting request.
“I am the aspirant named as Independent candidate for Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives,” Smith said in her letter on August 19 to the Elections Board. “I have not received, pursuant to Title 18 VIC section 113, notice of petition from the Board of Elections thereof to cancel my VI voters registration of St. Thomas/St. John district.” She continued, “I’ve given Mr. Richard Wilson, Ms. Fawkes, and Ms. Wells (email receipt acknowledged) a certified cancellation of my New York voters registration.”
In addition to addressing her voter registration, Smith said this was her third time asking for a meeting to discuss her “disqualification.” Regarding her application, she originally received an email on May 21 from St. Croix Deputy Supervisor of Elections Terrell Alexandre, announcing that she is on the unofficial list of aspirants. Then, on May 31, she received a phone call and email from Alexandre, who said that she needed four more valid signatures “to cure her defect of nomination petition papers.” That same day, Smith said she received a phone call from St. Thomas-St. John Deputy Supervisor of Elections Kevermay Douglas who said she needed 22 more signatures on her nomination papers on or before June 5 to avoid disqualification.
According to Smith, Douglas also informed her that she was in receipt of a “citizen complaint” about her qualifications for the Delegate to Congress position and that she would receive an email with the notice of defect.
On June 2, Smith received an email from Douglas titled “Notice of Inquiry-Proof of Residency” but later that evening Douglas sent a follow-up email telling Smith to disregard the original Notice of Inquiry-Proof of Residence email and to fill out instead an IRS 4506-T form on or before June 10 and send in a bank or credit card statement and a deed of mortgage on or before June 5 at 5 p.m. “to prove being an inhabitant” of the territory.
On June 5, Smith said she submitted a recorded land patent, credit card, bank statements, and the IRS 4506-T form. That day she also received an email and phone call from Douglas and Alexandre saying her nomination petition papers were cured. Then, in a letter dated June 11 from Fawkes, Smith said she received notice that she was disqualified from being a candidate for the House of Representatives.
Smith also noted that she never received an email with information regarding the complaint.
Smith said she requested a meeting in June and July to address her disqualification, which went unanswered. She finally asked again in August after noticing Fawkes’s use of media outlets to share her disqualification with the public. Smith also highlighted several times that her disqualification stemmed from the citizen’s complaint about her candidacy.
During the meeting, Smith played an eleven-minute recording of the conversation between her and Douglas on May 31. To date, she has made four requests for a copy of the record of the complaint against her and has not received it, adding that her “due process” is being violated.
“I’ve proven everything that was asked of me, and then some. I even went so far as to get a cancellation certification from New York, and I submitted that to Ms. Fawkes, to no avail. So for this to continue, that I should not go on the ballot for November 5, 2024 as an Independent candidate for the Delegate to the US House of Representatives is injustice,” said Smith.
During Fawkes’s opportunity to respond, she said that the disqualifier for Smith is that “no US citizen can be registered in two states/territories at the same time.” Fawkes added that Smith informed the staff on February 28 that she lives and works on St. John but that testimony submitted to the Legislature on July 11 utilized the New York address listed on her New York voter registration card.
“Aspirant did not meet the qualification requirements on June 11th to run for any political office in the Virgin Islands, therefore she was disqualified with a formal letter on the last day to certify as a candidate,” said Fawkes.
Fawkes also said, regarding the complaint made against Smith, that “persons file complaints via phone, anonymous, etcetera. I do not have any written complaint to share with Ms. Smith. I think I told her numerous times, that’s why she has not received any documentation because we have no documentation to provide to her.”
Smith was unwavering in her defense that Fawkes was adding on additional qualifications for her candidacy not provided by federal law. Fawkes however, said that she did not add on qualifications but abided by the VI code.
“We note that she [Smith] continues to use congress law, articles, etcetera, and has been mentioned before, that applies to Congress representatives that are voting members. In our Title 18 local provision, it clearly states candidates for office of Delegate to the House of Representatives shall be nominated pursuant to the pertinent provisions of this title,” said Fawkes. She added that the code says no person may be placed on the official primary ballot “unless he is a duly registered voter.”
“You can’t be a duly registered voter if you’re registered in two places,” said Fawkes.
“Residency is not a requirement for this position. It is a requirement for the other positions, the local positions that is. This is federal, so we must base the qualification off of federal law, which is supreme to local law,” said Smith.
Board Member Micahel Joseph referenced former Governor Kenneth Mapp’s case with residency qualifications when he was sworn in as a senator in the 18th Legislature and removed from office because he was registered to vote in Georgia. Some board members, such as Harriet Mercer, asked about clarifying the difference between federal law and local law. However, throughout the meeting, Elections Board and staff members appeared befuddled about the laws to observe and the reasoning behind Smith’s disqualification, with some members talking over others.
“This meeting is really going bad because so many people are talking, people are not listening, and I think 90 percent of the people who are voting are not sure what they’re voting on,” said Board Member Raymond Williams.
“As of now, I wish Ms. Smith maybe had taken this matter to court, all of us. Maybe the court would have solved it and would have had some clarity. As of now, I don’t know where we stand,” said Board Member Epihipane Joseph.
In the end, the board voted to table the disqualification of Ida Smith until new information is presented on the matter and another meeting held regarding it.
Board Members Alecia Wells, Florine Audain-Hassel, Kareem Francis, Lydia Hendricks, Shikima Jones-Sprauve, Epiphane Joseph, Michael Joseph, Angeli Leerdam, Harriet Mercer, Lilliana Belardo De O’Neal, Atanya Springette, and Raymond Williams were present.
