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V.I. DEMOCRATS PICK CONVENTION DELEGATES

A record 746 Democrats voted in party caucuses Saturday to choose six of their number as delegates to the national party’s convention in Los Angeles in support of Vice President Al Gore.
In the St. Thomas-St. John district, 363 Democrats voted to determine two men and one woman as delegates. On St. Croix, 383 turned out to choose two women and one man.
Shawn-Michael Malone was the top vote getter, with 239 votes, in the St. Thomas-St. John district. Kevin Rodriguez was second with 164 votes. Delores Thomas, with 200 votes, beat out the only other woman vying for the spot, Norma Bryan.
Malone, a delegate to the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago, is the St. Thomas office manager for Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen. Rodriguez is an assistant director in the Personnel Division. Thomas is an educator and Democratic Party secretary.
On St. Croix, Maria "Chi Chi" Heywood garnered the most votes, 165; former senator Carol Burke was second. For the male delegate, Cecil Benjamin, president of the St. Croix chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, was the top vote getter, with 136. Doug Canton Jr., who came in two votes behind Benjamin, was named the delegation alternate.
According to V.I. Democratic Party chair James O’Bryan Jr., the close race between Benjamin and Canton required three vote counts before he certified the election results late Sunday.
The six delegates each have one-half vote at the convention, Gov. Charles Turnbull and Christensen have a full vote each, and four V.I. Democratic Party officials each have one-quarter vote. All six delegate votes are pledged go Gore, O’Bryan said.
While Virgin Islanders cannot vote in presidential elections, they can vote in party conventions to select presidential candidates.

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