2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 18 - Elections
Chapter 1 - General Provisions
§ 1. Definitions

(a) As used in this title, unless the context requires a different construction, application or meaning:

• “ballot” or “official ballot” means the instrument upon which the voter's choices are recorded. A ballot or official ballot may contain ballot information. “ballot information” means the material containing the names of offices and candidates and the questions to be voted on; “candidate” includes a candidate for nomination and a candidate for election; “candidate at large” means a candidate for nomination of election to a position which is elected by the qualified electors of the Virgin Islands from the Virgin Islands as a whole; “district” means an election district of the Virgin Islands; “district court” means the District Court of the Virgin Islands; “district office” means any elective office for which only the electors of a particular election district may vote; “district register” means the records containing all or any part of the registry list of qualified electors of the same polling district in accordance with the provisions of this title; and it includes any subdivision thereof prepared as provided by subsection (b) of section 105 of this title; “domicile” means a registrant’s legal residence as determined in 18 V.I.C. section 262; “election” means any general or primary election, unless otherwise specified or indicated as in the term “primaries and elections” where the intention is to refer to primary elections and general elections; “election board” and “board” mean the board of elections of any election district; “election officers” means the election officers required to conduct elections at any polling place in accordance with the provisions of this title; “electoral district” means the St. Croix district or the St. Thomas/St. John district; “enrolled member of a political party” means any qualified elector who shall be registered and enrolled according to political designation, in accordance with the provisions of this title; “general election” means the election which the law requires to be held in even-numbered years; “general register” means the records containing the registry list of the qualified electors of an entire election district in accordance with the provisions of this title; “independent nomination” means the selection by an independent political body or group of electors, in accordance with the provisions of this title, of a candidate for a public office authorized to be voted for at an election; “instrument” means paper ballots, absentee ballots, provisional ballots, voting machine apparatus or system or any other device of any kind used to record a voter's choice; “nomination” means the selection, in accordance with the provisions of this title, of a candidate for public office authorized to be voted for at an election; “party” or “political party” means a political party as defined in section 301 of this title; “party nomination” means the selection by a political party, in accordance with the provisions of this title, of a candidate for a public office authorized to be voted for at an election; “party office” means an entity that solicits and articulates public policy and priorities for a recognized political organization or group; “political body” means an independent body of electors, as defined in section 301(b) of this title; “polling place” means the place provided for a polling district for voting at an election; “provisional ballot” means a special instrument upon which the voter's choices are recorded and which is subject to or dependent upon a post-election verification or confirmation of the voter's right to have voted on Election Day; “public office” includes every office involving responsibility to the public, including both district and territorial offices, to which persons can be elected by a vote of the electors under the laws of the Virgin Islands or laws applicable to the Virgin Islands; “qualified elector or voter” means any person who meets every qualification for voting now or hereafter prescribed by the laws of the Virgin Islands or applicable to the Virgin Islands, or who, being otherwise qualified by continuing residence in his election district, will meet such qualifications before the next ensuing elections; and “Referendum” means a law passed by the Legislature in the form of a question submitted to the voters for approval or rejection. “run-off election” means an election that allows for the selection between the choices receiving the first and second largest number of votes cast in the general election; “special election” means an election for a particular emergency: as one held out of the regular course such as to fill a vacancy arising by the death of an incumbent in office; “Superior Court” means the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands. “Supreme Court” means the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands. “territorial office” means any elective office for which all the electors in the Virgin Islands may vote. “vote” means to express one's will, preference, or choice formally by manifesting as a qualified elector, a decision upon any proposed measure or selecting a representative for elected office. “voting machine” means the voting apparatus or system approved by the Joint Boards of Elections for use in any elections in the Virgin Islands.

(b) All qualified electors shall be permitted to vote through the use of any of the instruments defined in subsection (a).