Sept. 23, 2004 – The absentee ballots were counted Wednesday. Since races were close, there was the potential for change, but, in fact, no losers became winners.
The number of returned ballots overall increased, indicating high voter interest in the primary.
Corrine Plaskett, St. Croix Elections deputy supervisor, said Wednesday of the 185 ballots, 77 were mailed out. The other 108 were walk-in ballots.
"It looks like an 80 percent return," she said, "but on those mailed out, we only received 44 percent back."
Nonetheless, the 80 percent is a much larger margin than the usual 50 or 60 percent return, Plaskett said, indicative of the high interest in the primary election.
St. Croix leading Democratic senatorial candidate Neville James remained the top vote getter with 61 absentee votes for a total of 1,932. The possibility for change was in the sixth through tenth places. The difference in those races was less than 184 votes.
The new totals are:
Neville James, Democratic Party, 1,932; Juan Figueroa Serville, Democratic Party, 1,670; Pedro Pete Encarnacion, Democratic Party, 1,626; Ronald E. Russell, Democratic Party, 1,461; Michael Thurland, Democratic Party, 1,415; Douglas E. Canton Jr., Democratic Party, 1,229; Emmett Hansen II, Democratic Party, 1,214; Gregory A. Bennerson, Democratic Party, 1,178; Luther F. Renee, Democratic Party, 1,124; David S. Jones, Democratic Party, 1,118; and G. Luz A. James, Democratic Party, 850
The St. Croix boards of elections and education results also remained in the same order. The absentee ballot count for the St. Thomas-St. John District will not be available until Friday, but Elections Supervisor John Abramson said there are not enough ballots to affect the outcome of those races.
See Data section for a full list of all candidates.
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