CHARLOTTE AMALIE — What if perennial senatorial loser Wayne “Facts Man” Adams were to prevail for the first time at the polls today? As a deceased person?
The St. Thomas voting public might have been concerned to see Adams on their 2020 General Election ballots.
After all, he died on September 26 of COVID-19, prior to the U.S. Virgin Islands’ early voting period.
The Charlotte Amalie resident died shortly after ballots were printed and finalized, meaning his name remains on the ballot as a Senate candidate for the St. Thomas-St. John district.
So, what happens if Adams places in the top seven and is elected Senator?
According to Virgin Islands Elections officials, Adams was a member of the Independent Citizens Movement (ICM) party.
If he were to place in the top seven, the next ICM candidate in line — regardless of how many votes they received — would essentially take his place.
That means an ICM candidate at the bottom of the vote count could potentially leapfrog over better-performing Democrats and Independent candidates, simply by virtue of being an ICM candidate.
On the St. Thomas-St. John ballot, the only other ICM candidate is Stephen “Smokey” Frett.
If Adams and Frett were each to finish in the top seven, then Adams will be replaced by the next highest vote-getter, regardless of party.
This process, while not stated in the Virgin Islands Code, is essentially a “gentleman’s agreement,” Virgin Islands Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes said. There has been a longstanding agreement that political parties can replace their candidates should one of them die or withdraw, according to Fawkes.
The practice is followed in other states. Earlier this month, a Republican candidate for the North Dakota State Legislature died of the COVID-19 virus yet will remain on the November ballot. Media reports indicate that if the candidate — David Andahl, 55, of Bismarck — were to win, the state Republican Party would be allowed to appoint his replacement.
ICM Territorial Chair Jacquel Dawson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
St. Thomas Democratic State Chair Glen Smith said he was not worried about the unlikely outcome because “the law is the law.”
“There might be a need to review [this process] because I don’t like how it smells, but it could have been the other way around with a Democrat,” he said.
Smith praised Adams as a beloved Virgin Islander who lived to make the U.S. Virgin Islands political scene and his community, better.
Of course if Adams is finally elected to the Senate today, after trying so many times unsuccessfully in the past, it will be the irony of all ironies.