Voters allege violation of law in ballot box dispute; Fawkes says outdated laws need amending

ST. CROIX — A group of voters allege a violation of a 61-year-old election law requiring ballot boxes at the polls, voicing their objections at two voting centers during Tuesday’s general election that resulted in police intervention while calling for the supervisor of elections to follow the law.

Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes said the 1963 law has been outdated since the implementation of electronic voting machines in 1986, adding that ballot boxes in voting centers became obsolete at that time. Fawkes emphasized the need for the Legislature to amend the antiquated law while clarifying the DS200 ballot scanner and vote tabulator that replaced hand counting includes an internal ballot box. She said she pointed out numerous election laws needed clarification when she became supervisor of elections in 2013.

“They were antiquated and they’re not appropriate to the systems that we have,” Fawkes said. “But again, from 1986 the boxes in the voting centers has been put away with.” Some voters called out Fawkes during Tuesday’s general election for not following the law after learning no ballot box was available in the voting center at St. Croix Central High School. Cleopatra Peter, a chiropractor who was subsequently elected to the Board of Elections after the results were tabulated using the electronic machines, said she learned there was no ballot box available at the voting center upon filling out a paper ballot. She said Fawkes is in violation of the VI Code in Title 18, Section 517.