Guy H. Benjamin School in Coral Bay may be shuttered as an Election Day polling station because of 2014 delays in getting returns to Election Officials.
ST. THOMAS — If the St. Thomas-St. John Board of Elections has its way, voters in Coral Bay will have to go elsewhere to vote on Election Day 2016.
Talks about St. John polling places and conditions at the island’s Election Systems office were among the topics raised at the board’s June meeting.
Small turnout, government budget cuts and past problems with logistics were a few reasons why there should be changes in polling activity at the former Guy Benjamin Elementary School, District Board Chairman Arturo Watlington Jr. offered.
Instead he proposed making Coral Bay an early voting site for St. John, giving voters 10 days prior to the election to cast ballots. After that cutoff date, all St. John voters would cast ballots at the Julius E. Sprauve School.
“I would like the board to consider closing Coral Bay permanently on Election Day,” Atty. Watlington said.
Closing Coral Bay on Election Day was one of two district locations Watlington suggested for closure. The other is the Leonard Dober Elementary School on St. Thomas.
Wells Favors Change
District Board Member Alecia Wells said she also favored at least part of the proposed change.
“I’m in favor of making it an early voting site,” Wells said.
Early voting was conducted for the first time during the 2014 election cycle but produced mixed results territory wide. A delay in delivering voting machines to St. John cut the 10-day early voting period down.
Some board members who put in long hours assisting voters turning out prior to Election Day on St. Thomas said they thought the new policy worked well but they would like to see early voting conducted away from the elections office.
Moses also proposed a third polling place for St. John at center island, that could serve George Simmonds Terrace, Adrian, Grunswald, Beverhoudtsberg and Fish Bay.
St. John Office Called “Dump”
Which brought the discussion towards the St. John elections office in Cruz Bay, near the traffic circle and the Sprauve School Clarice Thomas Annex.
It also brought unflattering comments from the chairman.
“It’s a dump,” Watlington said. Several board members agreed, including Ivy Moses, who said she visited the office prior to attending the June 24 board meeting.
“I’ve never seen a government office so poorly kept,” said board secretary Carla Joseph. “It’s really deplorable.”
The biggest criticism of the office was inaccessibility. The office is reached by climbing 20 feet down a flight of outdoor wooden stairs. But the chairman pointed out the disadvantages come with a hidden advantage, since the federal Help America Vote Act provides funds to refurbish elections facilities, making them comply with another federal law, the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Elections board members then discussed a number of alternative places that could serve as a temporary elections office until improvements could be made.
