A referendum on amending the

electoral system An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections m ...

for the

Legislature A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly with the authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country or city. They are often contrasted with the Executive (government), executive and Judiciary, ...

was held in the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an Territories of the United States, uninco ...

on March 30, 2019. Although the proposal was approved by 75% of voters, voter turnout was below 10%, invaliding the result.Reapportionment Initiative Fails to Come Close to Required Turnout
St Thomas Source, March 30, 2019

Background

The referendum was a

popular initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a p ...

put forward by the St. Croix Government Retirees organization. In order for the initiative to go to a referendum, the organization was required to collect the signatures of at least 10% of registered voters in the two electoral districts,

St Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...

and St Thomas/

St John Saint John or St. John usually refers to John the Baptist, but also, sometimes, to John the Apostle. Saint John or St. John may also refer to: People * John the Baptist (0s BC–30s AD), preacher, ascetic, and baptizer of Jesus Christ * John t ...

. They collected 2,343 signatures in St Croix (above the 2,298 required) and 2,553 in St Thomas/St John (where 2,530 were required), meaning that the proposal would be put to a public vote. In order for the referendum result to be valid, a majority would need to vote in favor of the proposal and voter turnout be above 50%.

Proposals

Prior to the referendum, the 15 members of the Legislature consisted of fourteen members elected from two seven-member districts (St Croix and St Thomas/St John) and one

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

member (who had to be a St John resident). The proposals would see both St Croix and St Thomas divided into two two-member districts, while St John would be a single-member district. Three at-large members would also be elected from both St Croix and St Thomas.Will Voters in the USVI Change the Way They Elect Senators in March?
SOTTVI News, January 29, 2019

Results

References

{{US Virgin Islands elections Referendums in the United States Virgin Islands 2019 in the United States Virgin Islands