Republicans Have No Candidates for Districtwide Office, so May Lose Status as a Qualified Party

The District of Columbia defines a qualified party as a group that polled at least 7,500 votes for one of the partisan districtwide offices, which are Mayor, Attorney General, Delegate to the U.S. House, Chair of the City Council, and Council-at-Large.

No Republican Party member filed to be on the June 19 Republican primary ballot. There were originally two Republicans who filed for Council-at-Large, but one withdrew and the other didn’t complete the filing process. However, write-ins are permitted in D.C. primaries, so it is possible a Republican candidate will win one of the nominations by write-in votes. But if no one does that, the Republican Party will lose its status as a qualified party in the District. There is no procedure for an unqualified party to regain its status, except by placing a nominee on the general election by petition and hoping that nominee polls 7,500 votes, so if the party does lose its status in November 2018, it won’t have its own primary in 2020, nor its own presidential primary.


Comments

Republicans Have No Candidates for Districtwide Office, so May Lose Status as a Qualified Party — 13 Comments

  1. Did the last Elephant leave Devil/Dumb/Deceit/Deficit City —

    to have the Donkeys eat each other ???

  2. Since there are no candidates on the ballot, if a write-in candidate receives 1 vote from themselves, would that be enough to get themselves nominated? Or is there a minimum number of write-ins required?

  3. Also, could the party’s central committee/convention nominate people over the summer to vacant ballot spots if no one wins at the primary?

  4. This would be huge if this is allowed to stand. Denying them the 2020 primary would undoubtedly make national news. The only reason I think this may be followed through on (unlike all the other times rules were bent/changed to accommodate the Republicrats) is because it would be against the GOP and D.C. is so democrat

  5. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
    (3 Electoral Votes)
    NOV 2016 PREZ

    Clinton, Hillary DEM 282,830 90.86%
    Trump, Donald J. REP 12,723 4.09%
    Scattered W 6,551 2.10%
    Johnson, Gary LIB 4,906 1.58%
    Stein, Jill STG 4,258 1.37%

    Total Votes: 311,268

    FEC — FEDERAL ELECTIONS, 2016
    ——-
    1 UNDER COVER ELEPHANT PER CITY BLOCK ???

    PR AND APPV

  6. I’m going to laugh if this happens. One of the major parties finding out what we third parties go through because of their rigged laws always brings a smile to my face.

  7. DC is probably a body that would experience an increase in election quality if they went to Top Two.

    Or if RCV/IRV could be harnessed enough to allow for it to be used for elections in the District.

  8. What does the DC regime do — pick up trash in the DC ghetto parts

    — and complain about NOT being a *State* ???

  9. “Someone will rewrite a law to keep them on”

    Several states keep parties on the ballot due to their voter registration total instead of party performance.

    Having a party qualify with 7500 votes for a citywide office, or 7500 registered voters, is probably reasonable. But it’d never get pushed if a third/minor party was the party at risk of losing access without a law change.

    The last time a major party was knocked off the ballot for performance was Florida in the 1930s, right? and they almost immediately moved the performance bar down to keep them on the ballot.

  10. Again —
    Nov 2016 Prez
    Trump, Donald J. REP 12,723 4.09%

    7500/311268 = 2.41 PCT
    —–
    Obviously fewer voters in 2018 —

    7500 votes = ??? 4.00 plus pct of 2018 total DC wide ???

    Will Elephants in Congress take over the DC election system ???

  11. BH, the last time was Virginia 1990, when the Democratic Party went off the ballot for failing to poll 10% for any statewide race. The only statewide race that year was US Senate, and Democrats didn’t run anyone. In early 1991 the legislature changed the law to save the party, by saying the vote test only had to be met at either of the last two elections.

  12. Every election is NEW.

    EQUAL ballot access tests for the candidates for each office.

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