A Superior Court judge on Monday held off on granting Elections System of the Virgin Islands Supervisor Caroline Fawkes a preliminary injunction against the Virgin Islands Elections Board amid a dispute over Delegate to Congress candidate Ida Smith’s eligibility.
Judge Yvette Ross Edwards gave Fawkes one week to add Smith to her lawsuit after agreeing with an attorney representing the Elections Board that Smith had a significant interest in the case’s outcome.
“As such, this hearing cannot and will not proceed today,” she said.
Fawkes disqualified Smith’s candidacy last summer, claiming the Independent challenger to incumbent Del. Stacey Plaskett failed to meet residency requirements because she was registered to vote in both the U.S. Virgin Islands and the state of New York. The Elections Board overruled that disqualification on Sept. 4 and placed Smith on the ballot after soliciting a legal opinion from then Attorney General-nominee Gordon Rhea.
Fawkes claimed in a complaint filed on Oct. 17 that the board usurped her authority as supervisor of Elections and acted illegally. Her attorney filed a motion on Oct. 28 requesting a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, permanent injunction and declaratory relief.
Ross Edwards denied the request for a temporary restraining order — or TRO — on Thursday, finding that Fawkes would not be “irreparably harmed” without one and that issuing one days before the general election would not be in the public interest.
The joinder could be moot because Ross Edwards reserved ruling Monday on whether Fawkes had the legal authority to retain private counsel and file a lawsuit in her official capacity as supervisor of Elections.
Christopher Timmons, acting chief of the V.I. Justice Department’s Civil Division and the attorney representing the Elections Board on Monday, said she didn’t.
“It’s pretty well-settled that the government is a creature of the law,” Timmons said, and he argued that the Virgin Islands Code precludes government entities from retaining private counsel and bringing legal actions regardless of whether or not they’ve done so in the past.
Rutherford argued that the Elections Board had already secured representation by the V.I. Justice Department and noted that Rhea had already issued an opinion on the matter at the center of Fawkes’s grievance — Smith’s ballot eligibility.
Ross Edwards said she will issue a written opinion on Fawkes’s authority to sue in the next few days. Should the court rule against Fawkes, her attorney signaled a willingness to bring the case again in Fawkes’s capacity as a private citizen.
The hearing came one day before the general election after thousands of Virgin Islanders had already cast their ballots during early voting.
In a Justice Department press release issued on Monday afternoon, Rhea said it’s important that the election takes place on Tuesday without interruption.
“I am pleased with the court’s decision and am confident that the remaining issues can be determined in an orderly fashion after the election without risking disenfranchising the impressive number of citizens who voted early,” he stated.
