“No-excuse” Absentee Voting Measure Marches through Senate

Voters registered in the United States Virgin Islands will have more options when casting their ballot thanks to new proposed legislation to establish “no-excuse” absentee voting in the Territory.

Bill No. 34-0266, sponsored by Senator Alma Francis Heyliger, would amend Title 18, Chapter 25 of the VI Code to allow “all persons eligible to vote in elections in the Virgin Islands to be entitled to vote in any election by absentee ballot.” Members of the 34th Legislature’s Committee on Rules and Judiciary unanimously passed the measure on July 7th.

“We have to move forward when it comes to making voting accessible, making voting something where the public would want to come out and participate in and most of all, making sure that voting is trustworthy,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger during her introduction of the bill during a session of the Senate’s Rules and Judiciary Committee on July 7th. “Providing greater access to voters sends the message that we indeed want your vote. That it’s not just lip-service to say ‘show up at the polls’ or ‘cast your vote,’” said Sen. Francis Heyliger in a later press release.

The Virgin Islands Code, according to Title 18, Chapter 25, Section 661 currently defines an absentee voter under the following terms:

(a) any member of the Uniformed Services of the United States or;

(b) any person registered and otherwise qualified to vote in elections in the United States Virgin Islands who is:

(i) a person or his spouse who is engaged in educational pursuits and who is residing either outside the Territory of the Virgin Islands or in an election district other than that in which he is registered; or

(ii) an officer or employee of the Government of the United States Virgin Islands or the Government of the United States assigned to official duties outside of the election district in which he is registered; or

(iii) the spouse of any member of the Uniformed Services of the United States; or

(iv) any person who has not been out of the election district in which he is registered for more than 90 days prior to the date of the election for which absentee status is sought; or

(v) unable to appear personally at the polling place of the election district in which he is a qualified voter because of illness or physical disability, whether permanent or temporary, or because he will be or is a patient in a hospital, nursing home, or home for the aged; or

(vi) an inmate or patient in a Veterans' Administration hospital; or

(vii) absent from the district of his residence because of his accompanying a spouse, parent or child who would be entitled to apply for the right to vote by absentee ballot;

(viii) absent from his voting residence because he has been detained in jail awaiting action by a grand jury or trial, or has been confined in prison after a conviction for an offense other than a felony; or

(ix) duly registered to vote, but will be unable to vote in person based on religious grounds.

Bill No. 34-0266 strikes that language and replaces it with a far broader definition: : “‘Absentee’ means: any person registered and otherwise qualified to vote in elections in the Virgin Islands who applies for an absentee ballot pursuant to section 664 of this chapter.”

In effect, as a result of those changes, voters registered to cast their ballots in the Territory will be able to cast an absentee ballot without having to document an extenuating circumstance as currently prescribed by the law. Sen. Francis Heyliger said that she believes it will bolster trust with the electoral process and promote increased civic engagement. During her introduction of Bill No. 34-0266, Sen. Francis Heyliger noted that 27 States had already established similar legislation in line with technological advances. Lawmakers and stakeholders lined up to support the measure.

“I think it's really a move to make voting less complicated to make it harder to remove barriers as opposed to impose barriers,” said Chairman of the Committee, Senator Milton E. Potter. “I really believe that this should result in an uptick in the number of persons who actually participate in the process”.

Caroline Fawkes, the Supervisor of the Election System of the Virgin Islands, said in her testimony that the Elections System supported the idea of enhancing absentee voting and quoted Jerry Goldfeder, former chair of the New York Bar Association Election Law Committee.

"Removing barriers to voting absentee would allow more people to vote in the manner most convenient for them. A no-excuse absentee voting system is likely to reduce both polling site lines and the administrative burden on election officials, thereby decreasing the total cost of administering elections."

Members of the Rules and Judiciary voted unanimously in favor of Bill No. 34-0266, which will now move on to the full body of the 34th Legislature for final consideration.