The Virgin Islands Board of Elections approved budgets for both the Supervisor of Elections Office and the board itself after convening a special meeting on Friday, recessing over the weekend, and adjourning Monday afternoon.
Upon convening Friday morning, the board immediately entered into executive session to discuss financial matters. Members emerged and voted to approve the supervisor’s budget but table the board’s until the following week. On Monday, Member Barbara LaRonde indicated that she had lingering questions about the supervisor’s budget and moved to revisit it.
“I know it was suggested that we, it was decided that we would accept it, but as I scrutinized it more this weekend, I think it needs to be ‘pulled back,’” she said.
Board Secretary Florine Audain-Hassell objected, noting that the board had already voted on and approved the supervisor’s budget and saying Monday’s meeting was for discussing the board’s budget only.
“Why are we going to revisit it? That’s not what we’re here for, for today,” she said. LaRonde said that because the meeting was continued from last week, it was “legal” to make her motion. The motion narrowly passed before the board once again entered executive session, after which the board’s budget plan for the 2026 fiscal year was approved.
LaRonde returned to the subject of the supervisor’s budget soon after and moved to request the office’s 2022 and 2023 budgets, an accounting of monies received from the Legislature and expenses related to the 2022 and 2024 elections. Audain-Hassell again said that the supervisor’s budget had already been approved. Several members then began talking at once, including one who mentioned that the matter had been “pulled back” earlier in the meeting.
“No, we pulled it back to discuss it,” Audain-Hassell said. “We never … pulled back that vote. We pulled it back to discuss it because we had additional questions.”
“We’ll let it go, we’ll let it go,” Acting Chair Lawrence Boschulte hurriedly interceded.
The board’s final order of business was to approve a motion made by Member Cornelius JnBaptiste to ratify the board’s six committees. Boschulte thanked the members in attendance and said he couldn’t wait for board Chair Raymond Williams, who was absent Monday, to come back for the next meeting.
