Having the government shell out $160,000 for the Sept. 9 primary election for political party officers doesn’t make John Abramson Jr., supervisor of elections, or John Abramson Jr., taxpayer, very happy.
A 1998 law calls for the Board of Elections to continue holding primaries for party candidates for public office but not for party positions. However, the territory's Democratic Party leaders said recently that they weren’t prepared to handle their own affairs this year.
The two-year-old law also says the Board of Elections must certify each party's plan to elect its officers. None of the three parties has asked to be certified.
With the September primary fast approaching, the election board reversed itself last month and decided that it would go ahead and handle the party officer elections as it had done in the past.
But that doesn’t mean Abramson likes it. Speaking on WSTX radio on Thursday, he said there were more candidates vying for party offices than for public offices.
Now that the Board of Elections will be handling the entire primary, Abramson must go to the Legislature for additional funding.
"I don’t believe the taxpayers of this territory should be footing the bill for the political parties," Abramson said, adding that he thinks the parties should make a "hefty contribution" to the effort.
With nine Democrats seeking the seven St. Croix district seats in the Senate, a primary election must be held. In the St. Thomas-St. John district, only seven Democrats are seeking senate seats, so no primary is needed. But with the party official situation, there will have to be one, anyway.
On St. Croix, four Republicans, three Independent Citizens Movement members and 10 independent ("no party") candidates are running for the Senate. In the St. Thomas-St. John district there are two Republicans, two from ICM and 17 independents. No primaries are held for "no party" candidates, no matter how many of them there are.
No Democrat is challenging Delegate to Congress Donna Christian-Christensen, so no primary is needed for that position. In November she will face independent candidate Victor Frazer for the third time, and ICM candidate Jorge Estemac for the first time.
Leaders of all three parties have said they will institute a process to elect their officers before the 2002 elections. Republicans have said they will hold caucuses to do so, just as they do to choose delegates to their national conventions.
Abramson still thinks the primary costs for the party office elections should be picked up by the parties.
"I am hoping this will be the last time we have to foot the bill," he said.
