A few days after celebrating the 60th year of free elections in the Virgin Islands, the V.I. Board of Elections finalized its choice for leadership in the current term. Thirteen of the 14-member territorial board officials met by way of a teleconference between St. Thomas and St. Croix.
By the time Tuesday’s meeting took place, members had already chosen a chairwoman and a secretary. Several rounds of voting over three meetings led to the choices of Alecia Wells as chair and Lydia Hendricks as secretary of the board.
The final round of balloting locked in Shakima Jones-Sprauve as vice chairwoman. The three-member leadership team will serve for two years, until the end of the next voting cycle when some board members either step down or compete for re-election.
Jones-Sprauve had been voted in as vice chair during an organizational meeting held in January, but the immediate-past elections board chairman Raymond Williams lost his seat in subsequent voting. Members questioned the equity of having all leadership positions held by members in the St. Thomas-St. John District.
St. Croix board member Ephanie Joseph won a nomination for vice chairman but lost to Jones-Sprauve on the last and latest ballot. The final vote was Joseph 6, Jones-Sprauve 7.
Elections Board member Lillianna Bellardo de O’Neal was the only absentee for Tuesday’s meeting. Wells said the custom of having two-district representation on the leadership team was a custom, but not a rule.
“Nothing is written about that,” the chairwoman said.
The board also met in executive session to decide whether to retain a temporary assistant administrator for the St. Croix District.
