Virgin Islands voters will go to the polls Nov. 7, Premier Ralph O’Neal announced Friday evening in Cane Garden Bay during the launch of Second District candidate Alvin Christopher.
“I intend to ask His Excellency the governor to have elections when? Anyone want to guess?” Mr. O’Neal asked the crowd. Hearing no dates called out, Mr. O’Neal said, “No. I intend to ask him to have elections on Monday, the seventh of November 2011,” he said. The crowd cheered and sounded horns in response.
Officially known as Polling Day, the date of elections must be proclaimed by the governor in the government’s official Gazette. This proclamation generally includes the dates for nominating candidates and advance polling, Supervisor of Elections Juliette Penn said in a recent interview.
“People have been clamouring” to know the date of elections, Mr. O’Neal said.
“People want to come home,” he added. “People want to go on holiday and vacation and they want to know when the thing is.”
But he said the decision takes time to make.
“You have to be aware that there are advantages and disadvantages. You’ve got to make sure that you’re making the right step,” the premier said, adding that he was also guided by “prayers and meditation with a higher power.”
Mr. O’Neal had told his wife and fellow Virgin Islands Party members of the election date earlier that evening, he said.
As of press time, the official writ declaring elections had not been published, but the governor expected to publish the announcement “within the next couple days,” his staff officer, Emma Dean, said Thursday.
The November date makes this the latest-in-the-year election in recent memory: It has been 21 years since the territory had a general election in the fall, in November 1990. Elections in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007 were held in spring or summer months. The upcoming election will also be the fifth consecutive Election Day to be held on a Monday.
At least 38 people have declared their intention to run for office this year, up slightly from 2007’s 35 candidates.