Registering to Vote

Back in August, Dave and I registered to vote here on St. Thomas. While we don't have any federal elections (other than choosing our delegate to Congress, who has no voting power), there were plenty of local positions up for grabs in November. The islands seem to be mostly full of Democrats and Independants. Registering to vote was quite different from registering at the DMV in the states. Rather than just fill out a one page form, we had to go to the Board of Elections Office with our passports and sign-in. It was a bit crowded as we went on the last day to register before the primary. After about 45 minutes of waiting, we were each called forward to meet independantly with an elections worker. The worker asked my name, birthday, physical address (Dave had to remind me of that one - it's our lot number in "Estate Wintberg" - 1-123-10), how long we'd been on the island, party affiliation, etc. She typed everything onto a form as I gave her the answers, and then I was told to wait awhile longer. Next it was my turn to get my photo taken for my voter registration card. They used polaroids so the pictures would be ready quickly. Rather than waving the prints around in the air to allow the color to develop, the card making employee immediately placed the photo on my card and laminated it. While most people here probably look fine in their photos with minimal color and a white background, my face practically blends into the background - very pasty white!

Politics here are really important. The campaigning was very intense. Remember the scene in Back to the Future where the car drives around with speakers blaring "Re-elect Mayor Goldie Wilson"? Picture that. Now add multiple vehicles for multiple candidates. Add some calypso music with lyrics that sing about the candidates. We're getting close to what it was like. Really the only reason I put off this blog post was because I wanted to get some photos of all the campaigning. I completely failed on that front.

We actually missed the primary (couldn't find the polling place - a little problem with not having any street addresses around here) but I believe there were seven teams running for governor. In the end, there was one Democrat team and two Independant teams on the November 7 ballot. More about the election and our experience voting later!