Voter Registration for Runoff Closes This Thur

Election office closed Tue for Veterans Day. Not too late to have your voice counted in this election.

WTF!!! i extremely apologize for the expression.i don't think i've ever put it in writing in my life...BUT.... are you saying....THAT PEOPLE WHO WEREN'T REGISTERED TO VOTE IN the ELECTION........ can now register to vote in the runoff!! could you please explain??

Many people did not vote in general but were registered and they can vote in runoff, so I guess they're giving others an opportunity. Don't have access to election laws, sorry.

Do we know for sure that there is to be a runoff election?

Has the vote counting stopped?

Are we there yet?

The vote counting continues. I haven't seen any official notice of a run-off election, but it seems to be a foregone conclusion.

People were handing out flyers at Five Corners on STX today. I assume they were campaigning for Mapp or Donna.

They are still counting, but according to statistics I saw somewhere online, it's 99% or chance of runoff.

With 5 teams in the race runoff always very likely when electing first time governor, at least in VI.

Isn't the run-off only between the 2 highest vote getters?
I have to say I've never heard of being able to register to vote just prior to a run-off election. I always thought you had to be registered prior to the general election to vote.

From http://www.vivote.gov/content/frequently-asked-questions :

"Q. When is it too late to apply to register to prior an election?
You must be registered no later than 30 days prior to an election in which you wish to vote."

The presumed run-off election election is Nov 18 (14 days after the general election), so you wouldn't have time to register for the run-off election after the general election.

I saw that, too, but I got confirmation from several reliable sources that you can indeed vote if you register nlt Thursday.

I saw that, too, but I got confirmation from several reliable sources that you can indeed vote if you register nlt Thursday.

can someone pleeeeeeeease verify how this is allowable!!

The St Thomas Board of Elections is having a press conference on Wednesday to explain many voting results and runoff issues. Hopefully they will explain, but I am going first thing Wed morning.

Here's the relevant law, from http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/vicode/ . I don't see how it allows registration after the general election and before the run-off election (which is 14 days after the general election).

18 V.I.C. § 94

Virgin Islands Code Annotated
Copyright © 2014 Office of the Code Revisor, Legislature of the Virgin Islands
All rights reserved.

Statutes current through Act 7578 of the 2013 Regular and Special Session

TITLE EIGHTEEN Elections
Chapter 5. Registration of Electors

18 V.I.C. § 94 (2014)

§ 94. Registration period

(a) The offices of each board of elections shall be open for the examination and registration of electors every day from 8:00 o'clock a.m. to 5:00 o'clock p.m., except Saturday, Sunday, legal holidays and except during the period of 30 days immediately preceding and five days immediately following each election. An employee of the election system of the Virgin Islands who has been appointed by the Supervisor of Elections to be a registrar pursuant to subsection (b) of this section or any board member shall examine and register applicants who present themselves at the offices of the board for registration pursuant to this subsection.

We'll have to question them about it tomorrow, but 2 Board employees told me last week you could register starting yesterday and vote in runoff. I didn't believe them, but an experienced campaign worker came from Board Monday night and said you could. I showed her the 30 day requirement posted on Board website and she said it did not apply.

We live in a constant state of confusion here in the VI.

"except during the period of 30 days immediately preceding and five days immediately following each election."

To my understanding the above means you can't register 30 days prior to an election and 5 days after but you may begin to on the 6th day.

Which does not address a run-off situation nor a marathon delay in having all votes counted and final results tabulated prior to that 5 days after an election ending and/or whether those registering can vote in a run-off that they chose not to vote in a general election.

Pretty ambiguous language but it does allow registration regardless of intent, it seems to me.

Absentee ballots, registrations to vote, etc.
See 7 V.I. Op. Att'y Gen. 382.

Provision of 18 V.I.C. §664 code provision that an application for an absentee ballot must be received at least x days before the election conflicts with this section's provision for a runoff election on the 14th day after the general election in the event that no candidate for governor or no candidate for lieutenant governor receives a majority of the votes cast, and code provision could not be given effect because the power of the legislature is limited to enactment of laws not inconsistent with the Organic Act.

Reference Section:

Virgin Islands Code Annotated

Organic Acts, Act of Congress, March 3, 1917, Executive Branch
§ 11 [Governor and Lieutenant Governor; election; powers and duties generally]

The executive power of the Virgin Islands shall be vested in an executive officer whose official title shall be the ‘Governor of the Virgin Islands‘. The Governor of the Virgin Islands, together with the Lieutenant Governor, shall be elected by a majority of the votes cast by the people who are qualified to vote for the members of the legislature of the Virgin Islands. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be chosen jointly, by the casting by each voter of a single vote applicable to both officers. If no candidates receive a majority of the votes cast in any election, on the fourteenth day thereafter a runoff election shall be held between the candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor receiving the highest and second highest numbers of votes cast. The first election for Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be held on November 3, 1970. Thereafter, beginning with the year 1974, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be elected every four years at the general election. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall hold office for a term of four years and until their successors are elected and qualified. No person who has been elected Governor for two full successive terms shall be again eligible to hold that office until one full term has intervened. The term of the elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall commence on the first Monday of January following the date of election.

VOTER REGISTRATION CONTINUES IN PREP FOR RUN-OFF ELECTION
News / Politics / Virgin Islands / November 11, 2014

As part of its efforts to prepare for a possible Run-Off Election between the Mapp-Potter and Christensen-Ottley gubernatorial teams, the Virgin Islands Elections System is reopening voter registration.

Supervisor Caroline Fawkes announced that registration will be open through Wednesday, Nov. 12, as the Run-Off Election could take place on November 18. Voters who register during this period are eligible to vote in the Run-Off.

Items required for voter registration, include:

Birth Certificate or
Passport (United States) or
Military Discharge form (DD214) or
Naturalization Certificate
Original documents must be presented, as photocopied documents will not be accepted.

Registration will resume again on November 23.

Elections Offices

ST. Croix
Sunny Isle Annex Unit 4
(340) 773-1021

St. Thomas
9200 Lockhart Gardens
(340) 774-3107

St. John
Estate Enighed
(340) 776-2391

Thanks, Alana. Where is this posted? Registration actually opened on Monday so now that it's confirmed they can vote, I have to go back again tomorrow.

It's posted at http://viconsortium.com/politics/voter-registration-continues-prep-run-election/

It was on the VI Consortium website.
Registrations run thru Wed.
None Thursday according to the article.

Thanks!

I'm all for voting. I just don't see how it's legal to register 6 days before a run-off election when the law says you cannot register "during the period of 30 days immediately preceding and five days immediately following each election." Is a run-off election not an election?

I think Alana33 has it right. The registration office is closed 30 days prior and 5 days after the GENERAL ELECTION. There is no provision in the law provided for stipulations on a subsequent runoff election so 5 days after the GENERAL ELECTION citizens would be allowed to register to vote again. This would make them eligible to vote in any election held after they had registered.