Sunday, August 01, 2010

Kathy Henderson Off Ballot for Ward 5 Democratic Primary

The following press release greeted me when I checked my inbox this morning. I'd heard rumblings about the challenge, but it looks like the tactic worked. Is Kathy Henderson is now out the Ward 5 race? I suspect we'll see some sort of write-in effort. The press release below comes from her campaign:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: V. Hines


July 30, 2010 Phone: (202) 359-0344


Voters Denied Opportunity to Choose Best Democrat


(Washington, DC) - One of four Democratic contenders for the Ward 5 City Council seat launched an aggressive challenge to Kathy Henderson's nominating petition for the same office. Cynthia M. Gill through her attorney Jennifer Wicks was successful in challenging Henderson and the Ward 5 residents that nominated her. As a result, the Board of Elections and Ethics (BOEE) moved to deny ballot access to Kathy Henderson, ending her participation in the upcoming September 14, 2010, Democratic primary. Though Henderson was successful in providing valid address changes to BOEE as requested, the changes were not sufficient to overcome a recent voter purge; many Ward 5 registered voters were deleted because they did not respond to BOEE correspondence sent to the last address of record. Other challenges to Kathy Henderson's petition were sustained because the voters in question did not designate a party affiliation. Properly registered voters may not participate in a primary election if they have not declared a political party on their registration.


I am very concerned that many Ward 5 residents were divested of the opportunity to choose me as their candidate for the Ward 5 Council seat, said Henderson. Petition challenges are a typical political tactic used to defeat an opponent before an election. Henderson says she will confer with her supporters to determine the next steps.

Here are the results of the Ward 5 challenges:
BOEE2

As you can see, the chart indicates that Henderson withdrew, rather than the standard wording when BOEE officially denies ballot access. I'm guessing that she was told what would happen, and then chose to withdraw.

Less activity in Ward 6, but BOEE did knock Randy Brown off the ballot.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So he thinks people who haven't voted in over 10 years, were going to get out and vote for Henderson. Really? They didn't get off of their butts to vote for Obama, but they are going to vote for Henderson... oh sigh.

Anonymous said...

Is anyone else amused that Kathy Henderson also filed challenges on two people.

inked said...

Highly amused. I'm just wondering what happens next. Some have speculate that she'll run for ANC again.

Anonymous said...

Also amusing that her challenges were denied. I love the press release that denounces her lost challenge and at the same time defends her two challenges 'Petition challenges are a typical political tactic used to defeat an opponent before an election.'

methinks w/ those type of tacts I'm glad she was eliminated early on.