Melchior v. Todman, Civ. No. 360.

• Decision Date: 02 November 1968
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 360.
• Parties: Ariel MELCHIOR, Jr., Plaintiff, v. Henrita TODMAN, Supervisor of Elections of the Government of the Virgin Islands, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Virgin Islands

296 F. Supp. 900

Ariel MELCHIOR, Jr., Plaintiff, v. Henrita TODMAN, Supervisor of Elections of the Government of the Virgin Islands, Defendant.

Civ. No. 360.

District Court, Virgin Islands D. St. Thomas and St. John.

November 2, 1968.

Maas, Ireland & Bruno, Charlotte Amalie, V. I. (Thomas D. Ireland, Charlotte Amalie, V. I., of counsel), and Karpatkin, Ohrenstein & Karpatkin, New York, N. Y. (Marvin M. Karpatkin, Michael N. Pollet and William E. Crain, New York, N. Y., of counsel), for plaintiff.

Francisco Corneiro, Atty. Gen. of the Virgin Islands, for defendant.

OPINION AND DECLARATORY DECISION

HASTIE, Chief Circuit Judge (sitting by designation).

Section 584(c) (4) of Title 18, Virgin Islands Code, provides that where a voter in a territorial election shall mark his ballot in the "Party Column" to show that he votes for all candidates of a qualified political party and in addition shall vote for one or more individual candidates not of that party, the straight party vote shall be counted and the other individual vote or votes shall be disregarded.

The plaintiff, Ariel Melchior, Jr., is one of the fourteen persons listed on the official ballot, prepared for use in the District of St. Thomas—St. John at the November 5, 1968 general territorial election, as qualified candidates for six contested elective positions as Senators resident in St. Thomas. He is one of three independent candidates. Six of the other candidates are nominees of the Democratic Party. The remaining five are nominees of the Republican Party.

Candidate Melchior, Jr., complains that the defendant Supervisor of Elections and those who will count and record votes under her supervision propose to apply section 584(c) (4) in a way that will be unlawfully detrimental to Melchior and other candidates. More particularly, he anticipates that some voters may mark their ballots to show both a straight party vote and a vote or votes for individual candidates not of that party. In that situation, he alleges that the responsible election officers, acting pursuant to the mandate of section 584(c) (4), propose to count the straight party vote and to disregard the additional vote or votes for any other individual candidate or candidates. He complains that such action would be arbitrary and invidiously discriminatory and he asks the court to grant such declaratory or injunctive relief as will prevent it.

By stipulation, approved by this court on October 30, 1968, the parties have disposed of the situation in which an elector shall vote the straight Republican ticket (thus indicating his choice of the five Republican candidates for Senators resident in St. Thomas) and also shall vote for one other candidate for Senator resident in St. Thomas. The parties have agreed that in such a case all six votes shall be counted and no effect shall be given to section 584(c) (4).

There remains for adjudication the situation where a ballot shall be marked either to show both a straight Democratic vote (indicating a choice of the six Democratic candidates) and a vote for one or more of the other candidates individually, or to show a straight Republican vote accompanied by votes for two or more other candidates individually. Since only six Senators resident in St. Thomas are to be elected, any such attempted vote for seven or more candidates cannot be effective...