VI Electoral Board demands apology from member after incident interrupts early voting

As soon as they convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon, members of the Sixth Electoral Board retired to executive session. “Something happened yesterday at the St. Thomas office,” said board president Alecia Wells. “This is a board member.”

After the council returned – almost half an hour beyond the initial 45 minutes allotted for executive session discussion – they were ready to make a decision. Board member Raymond Williams proposed that board member Harriet Mercer “send a written apology to the Election System and specifically to Deputy Supervisor Keevermay Douglas and election officials who witnessed the negative behavior.”

Although board members were reluctant to provide many details, the negative behavior in question, which occurred on Monday, reportedly disrupted early voting to such an extent that police had to intervene to restore order.

Mr. Williams’ motion set an initial deadline of 24 hours for the written apology to be made, otherwise Ms. Mercer would be subject to “a formal censure” and barred from formally participating as a board member during the remaining days. of this electoral cycle. .

Ms. Mercer tabled an amendment to the motion seeking to reprimand her, suggesting that no action be taken until the board had an opportunity to consider her statement on the matter. That amendment, although supported by board member Epiphane Joseph, failed to pass the vote.

The original motion passed, and so the clock began ticking on Tuesday at approximately 6:30 p.m. According to the Board’s decision, the Electoral System must receive Ms. Mercer’s written apology before Wednesday night, otherwise she will be banned from officially participating in the remainder of the 2024 election cycle.

In a statement recorded before the vote, Mr. Williams declared that “candidates will not be permitted to enter voting centers.” That’s what election observers are for, he noted.