St. Croix Board Of Elections Votes To Remove Chucky Hansen From Ballot; Requests D.O.J. Investigation Into Her Candidacy

ST. CROIX — The St. Croix Board of Elections on Wednesday voted to remove Alicia Hansen, whose real name is Alden Alicia Pickering, from the November General Election ballot. They also voted to request an investigation into Mrs. Hansen’s eligibility to be a candidate, contending that the issues surrounding her name were to be carefully looked at by the Department of Justice, more pointedly Attorney General Claude Walker’s office, which would then determine whether Mrs. Hansen had committed fraud and should be permanently banned from this year’s ballot, or whether she should be allowed to run.

Voting to override Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes’s decision and remove Mrs. Hansen from the ballot were members Glenn Webster, who made the motion, Barbara Jackson McIntosh, the board’s vice chairwoman, Roland Moolenaar and Adelbert Bryan. Voting against the motion were board members Raymond J. Williams and Lilliana Belardo de O’Neal, the board’s chairwoman. Member Lisa Harris-Moorhead, who was present for most of the meeting but stormed out following some friction with Mr. Bryan, was absent.

A motion made by Mr. Williams following the successful vote to remove Mrs. Hansen from the ballot, also blocked Mrs. Fawkes from sending St. Croix ballots to be printed before being authorized by the board; a move aimed at stymieing any move by the supervisor of election to ignore the board’s decision.

The vote represents a major turn in this year’s election, and comes at a time when Mrs. Hansen was beginning her campaign run in earnest, erecting large signs across the island, while taking aim at some opponents, including Senator Kenneth Gittens, chiding the second-term Democrat for some of his election reform measures. Mrs. Hansen had also taken to the airwaves on Saturday to lampoon Mr. Bryan, suggesting that the former senator and current Joint Board of Elections vice chairman had willfully shot his son in the back, and that Mr. Bryan had shot pregnant livestock.

St. Croix board members openly debated the matter of Mrs. Hansen’s candidacy at today’s meeting before the vote, concurring that there remain issues with her name. The meeting lasted about three hours.

On July 12, Mrs. Hansen filed in Superior Court to have her name legally changed from Alden Alicia Pickering to Alicia “Chucky” Hansen. In her petition, Mrs. Hansen told the court the name change was to “make all of my documents consistent with the name I’ve been known as for all my life, that is reflected on my United States passport, and that the public is familiar with as a senator and politician for the last 25 years.”

But the petition did not address why a name that the same petition does not recognize as her legal name has been used for so many years.

The Democratic Party had taken to task Mrs. Fawkes, asking that she verify whether Mrs. Hansen, who has filed to run for a Senate seat in the General Election as an independent candidate under the illegal name Alicia “Chucky” Hansen, should be allowed to run, or whether she should be disqualified. Mrs. Fawkes said Mrs. Hansen was qualified. But in an amendment to today’s motion to remove Mrs. Hansen from the ballot, made by Mr. Bryan, the board also voted to determine whether Mrs. Fawkes had used due diligence when she determined that Mrs. Hansen was eligible; the implication being Mrs. Fawkes could be terminated if found wanting.

Feature Image: Alicia Hansen.