Carol’s Mystery Announcement!
This morning, reporters received a terse e-mail from the campaign of At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz, saying the loser of last week's Republican primary is slated to make "an important announcement" at her campaign HQ at 1 p.m. today.
Could Schwartz be announcing a write-in campaign—something she said last week she would not do? Could she be giving her farewell speech? Announce a challenge to the ballot results in light of the election-night irregularities?
Oh, the suspense! LL will be on the scene and will be liveblogging updates.
UPDATE, 1:10 P.M.: Carol has yet to enter the building. And no one here knows quite what to expect.
Update, 1:15: Write-in campaign! More to come.
12:37 pm
She is sad, what a sad person.
12:54 pm
the deadline to run as a write-in was friday. hope she made it.
1:22 pm
According to BOEE, who I just called, she did NOT register by 4:45 Friday, the deadline listed on their website.
1:31 pm
DCMR Chapter 16
1616 Write-in Candidates
1616.1 Write-in candidacies shall be permitted for any office appearing on a primary, general or special election ballot.
1616.2 To petition the Board for authorization to have pollwatchers and count observers on election day, a write-in candidate shall file with the Board, on or before 4:45 pm of the fourteenth (14th) day preceding the day of election, a Declaration of Candidacy and Affidavit of Qualifications on the form prescribed by the Board, and a petition authorizing pollwatchers and countwatchers as provided in §705 of this title.
1616.3 To be eligible to receive the nomination of a political party for public office, a write-in candidate shall be a duly registered member of the party nominated and shall meet all other qualifications required for election to the office and shall declare his or her candidacy not later than 4:45 pm on the third day immediately following the date of the election on a form or forms prescribed by the Board.
1616.4 To be eligible for election to public office, a write-in candidate shall be a duly registered elector and shall meet all of the other qualifications required for election to the office and shall declare his or her candidacy not later than 4:45 pm on the seventh day immediately following the date of the election in which he or she was a candidate on a form or forms prescribed by the Board.
1:33 pm
Why is there a deadline for write-ins? Isn't it just up to the voter to, you know, write the name in? Or do you have to sign up to have those votes count?
I can't really blame her. Why should 1,000 or so voters get to decide for a city of nearly 600,000? Why should a lightly attended closed-to-non-member election in September affect the choices of the heavily attended open-to-all election in November?
The only justification for a party primary is to limit choices in November and coordinate efforts around one candidate per party. But why should the government facilitate and pay for this collusive limitation of choice for the general election? It is a policy designed to protect parties, not the candidates, and certainly not the public.
1:34 pm
The Friday deadline only applies if she wants to receive the nomination of a political party (1616.3); otherwise, she has until 4:45 of the seventh day following the election (1616.4).
http://www.dcboee.org/regulations/regulations/candidates/write_in.asp
1:38 pm
I hope she goes all the way. That paid sick leave was great.
1:40 pm
I am tired of people whining about how few voters decided Schwartz's fate in the primary. Neither she nor her supporters complained in the past when she received the Republican nomination to be on the general election ballot based on the same small number of voters.
1:54 pm
Thankfully, the First Amendment allows whiners to whine and the Washington City Paper allows people to express their thoughts. And, I'm sure there were people in the past who complained.
The whole purpose of a write-in campaign is to bypass the ridiculous primaries, and if Schwartz feels she can win through a write-in, she has every right to do so.
4:18 pm
And she has the right to lose twice!!!!!!!!!!