Ever since 1974, when the District of Columbia started holding elections for its city officials, the primary for the partisan offices has been in September of even-numbered years. But last year Congress passed a law that virtually requires that all partisan primaries involving federal offices must be held no later than August. City councilmember Mary Cheh has said she will introduce a bill to move the D.C. primary to July. She doesn’t want an August primary because many people are on vacation on August.

However, many D.C. voices are opposed to a July primary, because the Democratic Party is so overwhelmingly dominant in District of Columbia elections that the Democratic Party primary effectively chooses the winner in virtually all the contests. Having the primary in July would leave a long period between the point at which winners are virtually determined, and the point at which they would begin to serve in office (January of the following year).

Mark Jordan has this article in Greater Greater Washington, advocating that Washington city elections be converted to non-partisan elections, with only a single round in November, using Instant Runoff Voting.

The D.C. presidential primary date is also up for a change. In 2008 the presidential primaries in D.C. were on February 8, but the major party national committees won’t recognize such an early date for presidential primaries in most places. Some would like to combine the D.C. presidential primary with the primary for other office, but the two major parties also insist that presidential primaries be held no later than June.