On July 7, a Virgin Islands Superior Court ruled that the Board of Elections must certify the special legislative election of April 8, 2017. Independent candidate Janelle Sarauw had won that election. But then the Board had refused to certify the election, believing that the election should never have been held because there was no vacancy. Until the election was certified, Sarauw couldn’t take her seat.

The uncertainty on whether there was a vacancy hinged on whether the winner of the same district in November met the constitutional qualifications to be in the legislature. The Virgin Islands has a three-year residency requirement for members of its legislature. The winner of the November 2016 election was later found to have claimed residence in Tennessee in a court proceeding in Tennessee. Both federal and state courts refused to settle the residency requirement, instead ruling that only the legislature could judge the qualifications of its members. Finally, on June 28, the legislature had voted that the November 2016 winner is not qualified. Yet, despite this vote in the legislature, the elections board had still refused to certify the special election results. See this story.