Stability For the Near Future For the ANC

As I mentioned in my September update earlier this week, I am running for reelection to the ANC this November. Moreover, each of my ANC colleagues who aren’t graduating seniors at GU are also all running for reelection. But what’s unusual this year is that not one of us is being challenged for the position (at least not on the ballot).

There are a couple different ways to interpret that! I like to think of it as a show of confidence in each of our performances as Commissioners over this last term. Perhaps a more cynical view is that it’s a really tough position with no pay and only us idiots are masochistic enough to even want the job. Potay-to Po-tah-to I guess.

This is the first time that there will be no ANC2E seats in competition on the ballot this fall since 2012. Since then, there have been a handful of successful challenges against a couple incumbents as well as several open seats that drew multiple candidates (as was the case for me in 2020 and 2022).

As I mentioned, the exception to this consistency are the student seats. Joe Massaua and John DiPierri are both graduating in the spring and heading off to bigger, brighter things. As of right now, no candidates are on the ballot for their respective seats. This is not surprising. The ballot petition period takes place in the middle of the summer and requires the candidate to get 25 signatures from registered voters in their district. This is a minor challenge for the rest of the ANC commissioners who have to deal with residents being out of town. But it’s a major challenge for the students. So few students are actually registered in DC and fewer still are around in the summer. In the case of Joe Massaua’s district, it is literally impossible to get on the ballot since there are fewer than 25 people even registered in his district.

For these reasons, students running for the ANC generally have to run as a write-in candidate. This can result in an actually contested election, as it did for Massaua in 2022. Or it can result in literally no candidate running and the seat remaining empty until someone finally steps forward. I’m hopeful that later scenario won’t occur this year.