BUDGET PRESENTATION BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS - - PDF document

BUDGET PRESENTATION

BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS COMMITTEE ON FINANCE August 14, 2019 FISCAL YEAR 2020 BUDGET CAROLINE F. FAWKES SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS ELECTIONS SYSTEM OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

INTRODUCTION

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Good Afternoon, Honorable Chairman Kurt Vialet, distinguished

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members of the Committee on Finance, other members of the 33rd

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Legislature, members of the press, the viewing and listening

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• audience. I am Caroline Fawkes, Supervisor of Elections, a Certified

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Elections Registration Administrator. Present with me today is the

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Board of Elections Chairman Raymond Williams. It is an honor to

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appear before you today to present the Elections System of the

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Virgin Islands Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 proposed budget, which

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includes the Board of Elections and the Office of the Supervisor.

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The Elections System of the Virgin Islands was created through Act

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936 on February 20, 1963 by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands.

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The authority of the Elections System of the Virgin Islands is

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derived from Title 18 of the Virgin Islands Code.

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Act 7892 created the single board on July 30, 2016. The Election

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System of the Virgin Islands comprise of the Board of Elections and

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the Office of the Supervisor of Elections.

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The Board of Elections is the policy-making body of the Election

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System of the Virgin Islands whose objective is to increase

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coordination with national and local laws through election reform.

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The Board of Elections consists of fourteen (14) members elected

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from the respective districts for a four (4) year term. In the St.

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Thomas-St. John District two (2) members must be a resident of St.

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John.

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The Board of Elections Members are: Chairman Mr. Raymond

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Williams, Vice Chairwoman – Ms. Alecia Wells, Secretary Epiphane

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Joseph, Members - Glenn Webster, Lisa Harris-Moorhead, Jevon

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Williams, Barbara Jackson-McIntosh, Arturo Watlington, Jr. Esq,

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Maurice Donovan, Lydia Hendricks, Frederick Espinosa, Harriet

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Mercer, Shikima Jones and Atanya Springette.

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The Office of the Supervisor of Elections is charged with the day to

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day administration of the Election System of the Virgin Islands. One

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• f our main responsibility is assuring that Virgin Islanders’ voices

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are heard clearly through the election process. These

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responsibilities include training election officials, administering

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campaign finance, managing the territory-wide voter registry,

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preparation for the execution of all elections and collecting election

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returns.

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Our mission is to conduct reliable elections and accurately

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maintain voter registration records for Virgin Islands citizens.

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Uphold the laws, policies and court decisions of federal and local

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• jurisdictions. Commit to excellence and competence by maintaining

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the highest level of knowledge and expertise in the election process.

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Maintain public confidence in honest and impartial elections.

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Provide equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process.

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Maintain a positive role in community relations by being accessible,

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informative and receptive to both individual citizens and groups.

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Protect the public’s interest from manipulation for personal or

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partisan gain while respecting the rights of all. Maintain a

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productive and efficient operation through a well-managed election

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environment through actions and communication. Maintain the

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highest level of integrity in performing all duties of the electoral

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process.

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I would like to recognize and thank, the twelve phenomenal,

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knowledgeable, experienced and dedicated staff, who has a

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combined total over 135 years of service. The St. Croix Deputy

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Supervisor is Ms. Genevieve Whitaker and the St. Thomas/St. John

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Deputy Supervisor is Ms. Kevermay Douglas. See Appendix A -

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Organizational Chart

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For me, one of the characteristic that makes truly great employees

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who they are, is their ability to work under pressure. They just have

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an uncanny ability to soak up the pressure, and for some, pressure

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situations actually brings the best out of them; it becomes an

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• pportunity for them to truly shine. This is what the Election Staff

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has proven during my tenure. They are creme de la creme.

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OFFICE OF THE SUPERVISOR PROPOSED 2020 BUDGET

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Today, I am here before this body to make a compelling request for

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your support of our budget proposal. The Election System is a

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critical and essential entity to this community and cannot continue

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to operate with the funding it has continued to receive. We operate

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three election offices and conduct three types of elections and

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always stand ready to conduct a Special Election at any given time.

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The Elections Systems of the Virgin Islands has received one budget

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increase since 2011 and that was last year, 2019, eight years with a

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stagnant budget. Although we continue to transition in the 21st

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century with the requirement for a larger office space, modern

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technology and the purchasing of enhanced election equipment,

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which is costly up front but pay for itself in the long run. In the

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2019 Budget, we were given an increase of $325,000.00 however,

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my budget request was for $360,000.00 for capital improvement

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• alone. In December 2015, I relocated the St. John Elections Office

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from Cruz Bay to Marketplace, LLC; because of working conditions,

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ADA concerns in concert with the election’s federal mandates. We

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went from a rent-free office to $26,000.00 per year office space,

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which was unbudgeted.

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In addition, we cannot plan for unforeseen requirements, with not

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enough funding to sustain the requirements. For example, we had

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to request an indoor air quality & mold tests of our St. Croix

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Election Office, disposal of old election equipment or unexpected

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major repairs to our aged vehicles.

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The proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2020 is for $2,144,000.00.

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An estimate of 40% of the budget is spent on Salaries and Fringe

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Benefits, 48% on Other Services and Charges which includes

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Professional Services, Rental of Land/Building, Communication &

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Security to name a few, Supplies – 8% and Utilities – 4%.

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For FY2020 the budget proposal is as follows: Personnel Services-

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$673,000.00, Capital Outlays - $150,000.00, Fringe Benefits -

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$211,000.00, Supplies - $65,000.00, Other Services - $954,000.00

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and Utility Services - $91,000.00.

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The requested budget is an increase of $419,000.00 from the

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FY2019 budget.

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I would just highlight a few of the significant funding requirements:

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• a. Capital Improvement in the amount of $150,000.00 for the build-

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• ut of a modern ADA complaint professional office building with

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adequate climate-controlled storage space with integrated

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• technology. This proposal will provide us with a modern, spacious

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40% 48% 4% 4%

2020 Budget

Personnel Other Svcs Supplies Utilities

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and professional office which include a larger conference room to

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conduct board meetings and the election nights result process

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without having to expend funds in renting tents, TV’s and portable

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lights to provide the public viewing access, mandated by law. This

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proposed office building will encompass an area to conduct media

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interviews in a sound proof environment. We will also be able to

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secure the ballots, unused and cast, in a segregated double secured

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storage space from our regular storage room. Projected completion

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• f this renovated office space is December 2019.

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• b. Salary Step Increases - $120,000.00 proposed budget will ensure

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the non-unionized employees will obtain their overdue step

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increases, including retro payment and any salary increases.

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The unclassified employees are presently at the 2014 step and we

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proposed having them at their current step with this Fiscal Year

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2020 Budget.

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• c. Increases in professional and service contracts – $69,000.00.

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This is projected due to an increase expected of 4% each year and

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the acquisition of twenty-eight (28) additional election equipment.

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• d. Estimate of $60,000.00 for Legal Fees to pay Attorneys hired by

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the Office of the Supervisor or the Board of Elections.

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• e. Estimate cost to order office furnishings for the St. Croix Election

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Office present location and proposed location - $20,000.00

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As of August 1, 2019, the Office of the Supervisor has expended

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$1,314,561.00 (91%) of its budget.

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Since our St. Croix Election Office was totally destroyed by

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hurricane Maria we requested Public Assistance funding from the

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Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The process

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expects us to expend our General Funds first and then receive

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reimbursed from FEMA through the Virgin Islands Emergency

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Management Agency, a lengthy process. We just closed out Project

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Worksheet - Transportation of Salvaged Items and Storage and was

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reimbursed in the amount of $9,960.00. The second Project

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Worksheet was for the damage sustained to the van. In early July

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2019, the van was repaired at a cost of $6,453.08. We were

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informed by VITEMA on July 16th, this Project Worksheet is closed,

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due to the vehicle being covered by the GVI Insurance and we

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should seek reimbursement through the Department of Property &

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Procurement and the Department of Finance. We are in the process

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• f submitting our request to both entities to obtain our

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• reimbursement. To date, we are still retrofitting our office to return

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to normal operation with office furnishings, which is the only open

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Project Worksheet. We only ordered furnishings to become partially

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• perational in preparation for the 2018 election cycle.

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Due to hurricane Irma, we also have a total of two Project

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Worksheets with FEMA for the St. Thomas Elections Office. The

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first, is for the removal and replacement of approximately 323

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square feet of carpet and the second Project Worksheet is for the

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replacement of our server, which suffered water damaged, because

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• f the damages sustained to the roof. The quote for the removal and

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replacement of the carpet, is $14, 671.60, we were unable to fund

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this with our FY2019 budget, therefore, this will be a priority with

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the FY2020 budget, because it impacts employee health and safety.

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I have instructed Ms. Douglas, the Deputy Supervisor in July to

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request a quote for tiling instead of carpeting, knowing this cost will

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have to be borne by the Office of the Supervisor’s Budget. The

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Project Worksheets process are being assessed for final approval.

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In July 2018, we received another Help America Vote Federal Grant

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for Cyber Security Training. As authorized under Section 101 of the

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Help America Vote Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-252) (HAVA) and provided

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for in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-

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141), the purpose of this award is to “improve the administration of

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elections for Federal office, including to enhance election technology

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and make election security improvements” to the systems,

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equipment and processes used in federal elections. The awarded

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grant amount was $600,000.00. The current balance is

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$352,289.00. Our track record has shown we utilized 100% of all

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grant award funding.

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To date, $30,646.00 of the HAVA Security Grant Funding was spent

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for three enhanced Voter’s Identification Card printers along with

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accessories and the St. Croix Office replacement server. We are in

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the process of purchasing twenty-eight (28) additional Express Vote

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(ADA) machines and fourteen (14) DS 200 Tabulators for a cost of

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$217,065.00. We are awaiting the shipping dates of the equipment.

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The Express Vote machine is the paper-based ExpressVote

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Universal Voting System. This machine uses touch-screen

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technology that produces a paper record for tabulation. As a

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marker, the ExpressVote handles the entire marking process,

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eliminating marginal marks and the need for interpretation of the

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voter’s mark. This will enable us to have at least two express vote

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machines, which is the new technology, at each polling place and

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additional DS 200’s Tabulators. Purchasing additional number of

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DS 200’s Tabulators election machines is necessary because of the

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continual increase in the number of voters participating in the Early

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Voting process, those machines are not available on election day.

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Also, to ensure we have enough backup machines.

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Because of the critical nature of our entity, we receive “The Weekly

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News Alert” which is intended to provide situational awareness of

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the cyber risk landscape and cybersecurity best practices to election

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• fficials through open source news reporting and analysis by the

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Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center

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(EI-ISAC) and other experts.

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I’m proud to state, the Virgin Islands Elections System is ahead of

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many states with technology such as having paper ballots ensuring

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we have an auditable paper trail and the use of electronic pollbooks.

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We are constantly contacted to share our best practices in the

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region and nationally.

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Board of Elections Proposed 2020 Budget

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The Board of Elections Fiscal Year 2020 requested Budget is

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$267,660.00. For FY2020 the budget proposal is as follows:

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Personnel Services- $165,760.00, Fringe Benefits - $36,600.00,

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Supplies - $2,000.00, Other Services - $63,300.00.

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Nearly 56% of the Board of Elections budget is spent on Salaries &

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Fringe benefits for the Administrative Assistants. For example, the

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salary for one Administrative Assistant is $48,683.00 with fringe

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benefits of $13,631.00 with a dependent, estimated totals

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$62,314.00. When you deduct $62,314.00 from $70,000.00 the

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balance is $7,686.00. The remaining funding is used for Board

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Members stipends, supplies, leaving hardly any funding for training

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and conferences. Therefore, the funding for many of the training

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mandates for the Board Members must be taken from the Office of

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the Supervisor’s Budget, which is already underfunded.

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The unclassified employees (Administrative Assistants) have not

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received any step increases since hiring in 2014. In addition, this

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proposed Fiscal Year 2020 Budget will include funding for any

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projected salary increase.

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During an election year, the Board Members are mandated by VIC

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18 to conduct voter registration and voting machine demonstrations

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along with other educational outreach. An estimate of thirty (30)

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meetings and voting machine demonstrations are projected for the

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fiscal year, at a cost of $31,500.00 (14 x 30 x $75), this being an

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Election Year. This creates a deficit of over $12,000.00.

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This example clearly illustrates that a budget of $140,000.00 for

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Board of Elections is not reasonable.

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The Board of Elections main request for an increase is to commence

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and sustain Board Members training, which is conducted by two

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national professional organizations on the U.S. Mainland. This

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training and travel usually cost over $3,000.00 per person.

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As of August 1, 2019, the Board of Elections has expended

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$119,000.00 (85%) of its budget.

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TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

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Employees are our most valuable resource and asset therefore, they

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must be trained and skilled for our organization to meet its

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• bjectives and to be successful. Effective training designed

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specifically for our organization provides our employees with

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essential next-generation skills while bringing with it a host of

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• benefits. We continue to partner with Election Center to provide this

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essential training. In addition, we have reached out to other

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Election Offices in the US Mainland to cross train our employees.

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Training can also help our organization achieve greater consistency

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in process adherence, making it easier to project outcomes and

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meet organizational goals and targets. We do take advantage of local

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training conducted by the Division of Personnel, the University of

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the Virgin Islands and non-governmental organizations.

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Cybersecurity training for all staff members will be scheduled in the

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upcoming fiscal year with the HAVA Security Grant Funding.

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We will be embarking on mandated professional training for all

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election employees. Staff members will have the choice of attending

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• ne of the professional elections association training or visiting a

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state for one on one training.

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REGISTERED VOTERS

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The total numbers of registered electors by district are:

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See Appendix B -Voter’s Registration Statistical Report.

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We would like to encourage all citizens to register to vote and

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participate in the process. We would like to achieve the goal of 80%

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• f our population registered and participating in the voting process.

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During the period of July 15th through August 31st, we are

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providing free duplicate voter’s identification cards, this was

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tailored especially towards those that may have lost their voters

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identification cards during the hurricane or misplaced it. To date we

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have issued the following number of Voters’ Identification Cards: St.

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Croix - 46 St. Thomas - 31 St. John - 0

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Elections Funding Fiscal Year Recommendation – Primary &

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General

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24,989 2,156 24,981 52,126

Voters

STX STJ STT

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I would like to take this opportunity to remind this Legislative body

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• f the 2019 Budget Hearing discussions relative to receiving the

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Primary and General Elections Budget Appropriation in Fiscal Year

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2020 instead of the Primary Election Funding in one fiscal year and

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the General Election Funding in another. Since the fiscal year

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begins in October and the General Election is in early November,

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this historically does not give us enough time, due to our inability

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to obtain the appropriation and allotment in a timely manner, we

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must support the requirements with the Office of the Supervisor’s

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budget general funds.

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS

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I would now like to share our fiscal year 2019 accomplishments:

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• a. Conducted four (4) Elections, Primary, General, Run Off and

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Special, every type of elections as per VIC18.

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I would like to publicly thank, Mr. Terrell Alexandre – Acting St.

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Croix Deputy Supervisor, Ms. Kevermay Douglas – St. Thomas/St.

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John Deputy Supervisor, Mrs. Ulette Todmann-Hodge, Ms.

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Milagritos Venzen, Ms. Mari Felix, Ms. Melba Smith, Ms. Tricia

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Johnson, Ms. Sheri Richardson, Mrs. Blanca Maldonado, Ms.

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Stephanie Joseph, the Pollworkers, Lead Voting Technicians, Ms.

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Dania Bolling, Mr. Shukoi Pinney, other voting technicians,

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webmaster – Mr. Shomari Moorehead, Department of Public Safety,

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Property and Procurement, Finance, Education, University of the

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Virgin Islands, Sports, Parks and Recreation, Transportation, Media

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• utlets and Commercial Security for an exceptional 2018 Election

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• cycle. I am aware, the former Supervisor of Elections, Ms. Henrietta

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Todman, is a quiet person, but I want to Thank her publicly for

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sending a message to me, complimenting me on the 2018 Election

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• cycle. I stand on her shoulders today.

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I would like to highlight the Early Voting records during the

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Primary, General and Run Off Election. The Early Voting turnout

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shattered previous records including some states on the US

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mainland, who had been conducting Early Voting for years. The

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number of electors participating in the 2018 Run-Off Election Early

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Voting process for two days were as follows: St. Thomas – 3,646, St.

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Croix -3,340 and St. John –348, for a total territory wide of 7,334,

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which represented-14 percent of registered voters.

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We received numerous verbal and written compliments. As with

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every election, we conducted exit surveys to obtain written feedback

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to improve on the process. Overall the early voting experience for

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many of the voters were outstanding.

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• b. Implemented the Voters’ Lookup in real time on our website.

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Registered voters can check their registration status and obtain

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information on their polling place, from our website, real time

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information.

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• c. March 1-3, 2019, the Board of Elections conducted Board

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Training on St. Croix. This training provided the new Board

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Members with an overview of their responsibilities and operational

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information on the function of the Office of the Supervisor. Some of

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the areas addressed were Parliamentary Procedures, VIC Title 18,

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Governance and a presentation on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure

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• Security. The goal of this training was the development of a Draft

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Strategic Plan, which was completed. The Strategic Plan will be

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finalized by December 2019.

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• d. In 2016, I began collaborating with the British Virgin Islands

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inviting them to observe our Elections. They visited both St.

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Thomas and St. Croix during the 2018 election cycle.

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Because of their observation, the positive experience and our

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excellent election day processes, they gained confidence in the

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equipment and in 2018, purchased the DS200’s Tabulators along

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with the new tablet Epollbooks. This equipment was utilized in

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their February 2019 Election, the results were received by 11 p.m.,

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the Pollworkers were excited to be using the new technology and

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most of the public shared their overwhelming support of this

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progressive change. We were thanked officially by Deputy Governor

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David Archer, and a published article in the British Virgin Islands

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newspaper.

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Because of the success of the DS200’s Tabulator’s in the British

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Virgin Islands; Anguilla, St. Maarteen, St. Kitts and Nevis Election

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Commission are now interested in the DS200 Tabulator.

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The British Virgin Islands has also showed an interest in our

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Absentee Voting process and procedures.

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• e. Ms. Douglas, Deputy Supervisor STT-STJ attended the Elections

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Center Certification courses in July; Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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• f. Board Chairman Raymond Williams, Board Member Lisa Harris-

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Moorhead and Board Administrative Assistant, Mr. Terrell

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Alexandre attended the International Association of Government

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Officials Conference in July; Houston, Texas.

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• g. Board Member Lydia Hendricks will become a Certified Election

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Registration Administrator on August 20, 2019. Also, attending this

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conference/training in Orlando, Florida will be Board Members:

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Epiphane Joseph, Atanya Springette and Arturo Watlington, Jr.

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• h. As the Supervisor, I insisted that the Board of Elections

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implement audit procedures, to ensure an audit is completed after

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every election since 2014. Today, we are hearing this mandate from

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the federal level, due to the concerns with the 2016 national

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election.

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• i. We received our second Cybersecurity Hygiene Report Card on

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August 5, 2019 from Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing

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and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), this agency is based in New York and

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conducts 24/7 cyber security monitoring and I am happy to report,

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no vulnerabilities were found. This entity monitors our voter’s

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registration database, Powerprofile, hosted by Election Systems and

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Software (ESS) in Omaha, Nebraska.

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GOALS

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• a. In June 2019, we requested the Department of Homeland

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Security to assess our voters’ registration database and the security

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protection of our computer systems, Ms. Genevieve Whitaker is

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assigned this responsibility. This includes a penetration test,

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monitoring of the office computer system and the creation of an

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incident plan. We are awaiting the scheduling of these

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assessments.

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• b. The Board of Elections will conduct town hall meetings to obtain

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feedback on election reform suggestions from the community.

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• c. The Board of Elections and the Office of the Supervisor will

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submit any propose revisions of Virgin Islands Code, Title 18 to the

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Legislature, with input from the public and other organizations.

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Restructure the Office of the Supervisor and update the job

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descriptions with current duties and responsibilities, including the

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use of technology.

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• d. Conduct voter’s education presentations to schools, as outreach

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program to share the importance and process of voting.

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CHALLENGES

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• a. Funding to upgrade Voter Registration database- improve

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efficiency (many of the modules are outdated. Ex. felony, deaths,

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and other areas of output in the system).

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• b. Training- limited funding has restricted the ability to have all

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Election Staff attend CERA classes and other professional

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development training

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• c. IT challenges we have to depend on Bureau of Information

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Technology for Assistance; they too are short staff and sometimes

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cannot respond in a timely manner, especially in the St.

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Thomas/St. John District.

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• d. In an election cycle, timely allotment of funding hampers the

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agency from acquiring ballots on a timely basis. This transpired in

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the 2018 Election Cycle.

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• e. Organizational restructuring

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Future Staffing considerations- to hire someone with Fiscal &

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Human Resource background and experience. Also, hire a St.

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Johnian to work in the St. John Elections Office.

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• f. Funding- Legal Counsel

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In summary, Voting is the heart of democracy. As long as people are

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given the chance to vote, to choose their representatives, and their

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stance on social and political issues, then democracy is working.

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That is why it is important to ensure that every eligible voter is

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registered and will exercise their right of suffrage because if not, it

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defeats the purpose of democracy. The Election System of the Virgin

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Islands will continue to champion this cause.

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Election is an important element of democracy. Democracy means

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‘government of the people, for the people and by the people’ the

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device of election was invented to carry out democratic form of

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• government. This is why this “small” important agency of thirteen

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dedicated employees exists.

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I humbly ask that this body grant us the Fiscal 2020 Budget

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requested in order for the Elections System of the Virgin Islands to

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continue to keep this agency relevant and aligned with other

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Election Systems nationally, moving forward into the next century.

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I would conclude with this quote: Voting is the foundational act that

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breathes life into the principle of the consent of the governed.”

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Deforest Soaries

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• Mr. Chairman, I thank you, Members of the Committee on Finance

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and other Members of the 33rd Legislature for inviting me to

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present our proposed fiscal year 2020 Budget. I’m prepared to

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respond to any questions you may have.

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Your Voice is Your Vote and Your Vote is Your Voice!

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