As the Virgin Islands Sixth Constitutional Convention approaches its Oct. 31 deadline to submit a draft constitution, delegates are raising concerns about limited public engagement as the drafting phase nears completion.
“The point of this constitution is to be another point of this 533-year-long self-determination journey for the people on these rocks,” said Delegate Imani Daniel. “It will be an opportunity for us to bring a piece of self-determination home.”
Daniel said the convention’s unique position as the most recent constitutional effort in the United States allowed delegates to draw on a wealth of global experience. “The draft that we have, I think, is one of the best constitutions in America, and it’s simply because it’s the last — we got to look at every other constitution in America and the world,” Daniel said.
“People have been working on constitutionality and governance for centuries, and we actually are lucky enough to be able to read, analyze, digest, and take the best practices of all of them and then rework them in a way that is tailored to the Virgin Islands,” she continued.
Daniel said the result is a document that is “equitable, it’s futuristic. It is power to the people. It is decentralizing some of these issues that the Virgin Islands has.”
But despite months of work, few Virgin Islanders understand what’s in it — a gap Daniel says must be closed before the convention’s work moves forward. With the deadline looming, the convention is hoping for an extension from the Legislature to allow more time for public review as well as proper legal review.
“We want more time, and the number one reason is because we firmly believe that the people of the Virgin Islands should know what we’ve written and should have a say, or at least be able to provide meaningful feedback and have a chance to digest what we are offering for their future, our future, before we start putting it through to the governor,” said Daniel.
Delegate Stedman Hodge echoed the call for an extension, emphasizing that the convention’s work should not be rushed. He said formal correspondence has been sent requesting additional time, “So that we can really have the time to not rush the completion of a document and then get it vetted properly by the legal council,” Hodge said.
Daniel described the desire from delegates for an extension as “the only unanimous thing we all agree on,” noting that delegates have known since May that an extension would be necessary and have taken appropriate steps to secure it. “We agreed we need more time. So we put together an ad hoc committee and really thought through how much time and money we wanted to ask the legislature for,” said Daniel.
Even with the extra time, delegates say a deeper issue persists — few residents are engaged in the process. As the U.S. Virgin Islands Sixth Constitutional Convention works to draft a new governing document, delegates are sounding the alarm about a critical failure: the lack of meaningful public engagement.
“We have no website, we have no emails, we have no newsletter, we have no office, we have no staff. And so if you don’t have physical infrastructure and digital infrastructure, by which means, are you getting information to the public?” Daniel asked. “The convention has completely failed in developing infrastructure for public engagement.”
With no official channels in place, some delegates have taken matters into their own hands. “The website that goes out every week, I pay for personally, and I do personally, because there was no way I was going to sit by and have zero presence at all. But you’ll see, it says the unofficial newsletter. It says the minority caucus website, because they are unofficial, because it’s not the convention. It’s a few delegates that were sick of the inaction of the convention,” Daniel said.
What Daniel is referring to is the minority caucus website, which, according to her, is the only site containing any information about the convention’s progress. She pointed to a line from the site that reads, “While official updates lag, we’re stepping up to keep the public informed, because democracy is a conversation, not a spectator sport.”
“I wrote that in April, and it is now October, and there’s been no reason for me to update that line,” Daniel said.
Despite repeated calls for action, Daniel said, the convention’s leadership has not prioritized building the tools needed to keep the public informed. “On February 25, delegate Rudel Hodge Jr. and I wrote a lengthy proposal for a branding, marketing and outreach plan for the convention, and we wanted to present it and vote on it at our March 1 plenary session, and it was just kicked down the road. Wasn’t taken seriously. It was kicked down the road, and then eventually it was approved and picked up by our education and public information committee,” Daniel said.
Daniel attributes much of the problem to a generational divide in leadership. “Our leadership skews older. I’m the only young person in our executive committee. The only outreach that we have done successfully has been on the radio. Our leadership is comfortable on the radio. So now transitive property, I’m assuming that because our leadership is older and because they’re comfortable on the radio, it has been easier for them to get the outreach out through the radio,” Daniel said.
“So now I can’t say that they’re maliciously ignoring social media. It’s just that they might not be comfortable in that space. But that’s not an excuse, because you have two absolute juggernauts that are highly experienced in that space … So for me, there is no excuse. If you aren’t comfortable in the space. You have people that you could have empowered,” she continued.
“It’s so frustrating for us to be working on what I believe is one of the most futuristic constitutions in America, and then, literally, not be able to have a meaningful way to even tell the Virgin Islanders about it. That dichotomy is just mind blowing to me,” Daniel said.
However, as Daniel noted, her and Rudel Hodge Jr.’s outreach plan has been approved by the Education and Public Information Committee, but, according to her, has not been implemented with the urgency it deserves. “Just like the community, I’ll believe it when I see it,” Daniel said.
Delegate Stedman Hodge said the Sixth Constitutional Convention is moving forward with a media and public engagement plan, but stressed that the process requires careful attention and should not be rushed. “We are mandated [to have a] marketing plan and engagement for the community, and that in itself, takes time,” Hodge said.
He explained that the convention’s leadership wants to ensure the public is thoroughly informed and has opportunities to provide feedback on the draft constitution. “We don’t want to rush the process, and we’ve done our due diligence thus far in terms of making sure we get the message out,” Hodge said.
He, however, noted that he is not satisfied with the current level of public engagement, attributing the challenge to underfunding. “Every convention, one through five, have been underfunded, including the Sixth Constitutional Convention, to the extent that we do not have office space, we do not have the ability to — not just have the office space, but to also have the ability to hire full staff, to have the necessary equipment and the resources, so we can truly be effective, so that individuals when they want … to contact us, they can contact us directly to our office, versus what we’re doing now, which is working from home, deliberating from home,” Hodge said.
He noted that while the intent is to engage the public through various channels, limited resources have hampered these efforts. “Once granted an extension, we also would receive additional funding, and a lot of that funding is going to support the appropriate marketing campaign.”
Hodge said that while he is not satisfied with the current level of public discourse, there is a plan in place to improve communication once the drafting phase is complete. “We are underfunded … that affects the ability with which you’re able to talk to the community. But there is a plan in place that will start to really kick in after the drafting is complete,” Hodge explained.
When asked what he wanted the community to know about the Sixth Constitutional Convention, he emphasized the importance of broad participation. “For me, it’s just for the community to actively participate, especially whether it’s local and state organizations, nonprofit organizations, certain government agencies.”
He also highlighted the need to involve schools in the process, noting that outreach to students and educators, especially during lessons on government, could be particularly beneficial.
Regarding public feedback, Hodge stated, “It’s not about weighing in on the entire document, but maybe that one section that has interest to you, you know. And then, of course, to give us that feedback, that feedback is truly going to be key.”
As the convention faces a looming deadline, both delegates urged Virgin Islanders to get involved and hold the process accountable. “At the end of the day, it’s the Virgin Islanders who are the judges of this and so we can’t wait until whenever this ends up on a ballot, whether it’s next November or some other time, based on the extension, whatever ends up happening, it can’t be the month before that that we are asking them to get informed and to vote yes on this document, it has to start now,” Daniel said.
Daniel said that the lack of early, robust public engagement was a missed opportunity for the convention. “If we had followed the plan that we laid out in February, the convention would not be asking the legislature for more time. The people would have been asking the legislature for more time on our behalf,” she said.