Several members of the V.I. Elections Board and one former senatorial candidate will appear before a Superior Court judge Friday morning on St. Croix after asking the court for a temporary restraining order against the board’s chair, Raymond Williams.
Members Lawrence Boschulte, Harriet Mercer and Atanya Springette filed the civil complaint Tuesday and argued that Williams is ineligible to lead the board because of his position as director of the Virgin Islands Lottery. They further alleged that Williams “conspired” with Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes and Sen. Kenneth Gittens to subvert the board’s authority through Act 8690, a 2022 law which effectively transferred oversight of the territory’s elections to the supervisor.
“Defendant refuses to allow a special meeting of the VIBOE to either rescind, repeal, or amend Act 8690 despite many VIBOE members requesting a special meeting to singularly address this obvious fraud, and demanding the violation of the Sunshine Law, which can be only addressed through a temporary restraining order,” they argued.
The board members also accused Williams of abusing his authority by withholding access and minutes from virtual meetings.
They were joined in their complaint by Collister Fahie, who ran as a Republican candidate for the 36th Legislature in 2024. Fahie was described in the complaint as a “voter who has been directly impacted by having the inability to view or hear public VIBOE meetings and who, like many other Virgin Islanders, has lost trust in the election system.”
The 15-page complaint charges Williams with: having a conflict of interest; conspiracy; abuse of authority under the color of law; violation of constitutional rights to equal protection, due process and free association; and fraud.
According to the complaint, the last allegation stems from 2022 testimony Williams delivered to the Legislature during which he acknowledged paying an “unqualified employee assigned as Lottery Chief of the Virgin Islands” a salary for nine months, “even though he was aware said employee was unable to perform the job role for the V.I. Lottery.”
The case was originally filed in the St. Thomas-St. John district. Judge Carol Thomas-Jacobs recused herself, noting that she had reviewed an opinion cited in the complaint while serving as chief deputy attorney general in the V.I. Justice Department. Judge Sigrid Tejo also recused herself because she “investigated and assisted in the prosecution of Plaintiff Collister Fahie, who later filed a complaint against her late husband” while Tejo was an assistant attorney general.
The case was transferred to Judge Alphonso Andrews, who on Wednesday scheduled an emergency hearing to discuss the temporary restraining order. Despite some initial reports Thursday suggesting that the TRO had been granted, V.I. Superior Court Clerk Tamara Charles told the Source that Andrews had only issued an order setting the hearing.
St. Croix Source
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