‘A packed ANC 4C meeting in DC tonight’
courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’

This week’s political squabbles over a liquor license for a popular cafe, have brought into sharp focus the role of the District’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. Dave went over the ANC’s role in our community in a previous feature, and this feature is here to tell you a bit more about how the ANC commissioners come to be elected.

ANC Commissioners are non-partisan, which means that they are selected at the general election. We don’t have to tell you that this means that they’re elected at the smaller of the two elections this fall, or that it means that many seats run unopposed. It’s a thankless job, for the most part, but it’s about being deeply involved in your own district, in your own community, and yes, it does mean meetings. But this feature is about how you get there, not what it means.

Dates to Remember

August 4th – Ballot Petitions are available for pickup.

September 3rd – Ballot Petitions are due to the DC BOEE.

November 2nd – General Election for Mayor, ANC Commissioners

DC is broken up into wards, as you know, and then from there, subdivided into commission districts (ANC 5C, ANC 1A, ANC 6B) and then re-subdivided into single member districts. Each SMD elects a commissioner, who in turn sits on the ANC for that part of their wards. To qualify for the ballot, you need just 25 signatures of registered voters in your SMD. The bar is fairly low, and given how many seats run unopposed, if you were looking for a gateway to elected office in DC, this is the way to do it. Here’s the breakdown of the wards in terms of how many seats ran unopposed in 2008:

Ward 1: 36 seats, 25 unopposed, 1 no candidate
1A: 7 of 11 seats unopposed in 2008
1B: 6 of 11 seats unopposed in 2008
1C: 6 of 8 seats unopposed, 1 seat with no declared candidate
1D: 6 of 6 seats unopposed in 2008

Ward 2: 34 seats, 27 unopposed, 1 no candidate
2A: 6 of 6 seats unopposed in 2008
2B: 7 of 9 seats unopposed in 2008
2C: 0 of 4 seats unopposed in 2008
2D: 2 of 2 seats unopposed in 2008
2E: 6 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate
2F: 6 of 6 seats unopposed in 2008

Ward 3: 42 seats, 32 unopposed, 1 no candidate
3B: 5 of 5 seats unopposed in 2008
3C: 6 of 9 seats unopposed in 2008
3D: 7 of 9 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate
3E: 3 of 5 seats unopposed in 2008
3F: 6 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008
3G: 5 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008

Ward 4: 33 seats, 19 unopposed, 5 no candidate
4A: 6 of 8 seats unopposed in 2008
4B: 5 of 9 seats unopposed in 2008, 2 seats with no declared candidate
4C: 3 of 10 seats unopposed in 2008, 2 seats with no declared candidate
4D: 5 of 6 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate

Ward 5: 36 seats, 21 unopposed, 1 no candidate
5A: 7 of 12 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate
5B: 7 of 12 seats unopposed in 2008
5C: 7 of 12 seats unopposed in 2008

Ward 6: 35 seats, 24 unopposed, 2 no candidate
6A: 5 of 8 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate
6B: 6 of 11 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate
6C: 9 of 9 seats unopposed in 2008
6D: 4 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008

Ward 7: 35 seats, 18 unopposed, 6 no candidate
7A: 4 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008, 2 seats with no declared candidate
7B: 3 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008, 2 seats with no declared candidate
7C: 5 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate
7D: 4 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate
7E: 2 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008

Ward 8: 35 seats, 18 unopposed, 9 no candidate
8A: 5 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008
8B: 4 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate
8C: 2 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008, 3 seats with no declared candidate
8D: 4 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008, 1 seat with no declared candidate
8E: 3 of 7 seats unopposed in 2008, 4 seats with no declared candidate

Take a look right now in the Citizen Atlas, was yours one of the SMDs without a declared candidate on the ballot? Was it yours where the candidate ran unopposed? Give it some thought, and see if you want to give it a go. 25 signatures is all you need to get on the ballot for this fall, and you’ve got a few weeks to think about what it would take to get things rolling. There’s no salary for the ANC commissioners, so it’s not about the money, but being a pillar of the community, well, that’s priceless, don’t you think?

Tom Bridge

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.