We’ve recently written a lot about candidates in Advisory Neighborhood Commission races all over DC. In 20 districts, no candidates filed petitions to get on the ballot, but people can run as write-in candidates. If you’re running, let us know; or if not, consider it!

Photo by bfishadow on Flickr.

DC has 40 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions covering 299 single-member districts. Commissioners have expansive but often thankless responsibilities, and while the positions are unpaid, I know commissioners who spend 20-30 hours a week on the work.

But while being a commissioner is hard work, it’s also very rewarding. Commissioners do important work on transportation, liquor licensing, and development issues in their neighborhoods, and they really get to know their communities. Talking to commissioners across the city is a whole lot of fun for anyone interested in where we live, as they can tell you the stories behind each park, tree, building and sign.

In case you haven’t noticed our endorsement posts or the many ANC yard signs cropping up on telephone poles across the city, campaign season is well underway for these positions. But…

It’s not too late to throw your hat in the ring

Every year there are a few district across the city where nobody runs for the position, or at least nobody takes the time to get 25 signatures on a petition to get on the ballot. This year, there are 20 such seats:

Map created with Mapbox, data from OpenStreetMap.

1A11 1B06 1B10 1C01 1C05 2A08 2E04 2F08 3C04 3D04 3D07 3F04 4B02 5A04 6D03 7B03 7C06 7F07 8A03 8D05 8D06

The seats can be filled with a write-in campaign. All you have to do to win one of the seats is 1) be qualified to be a registered voter, 2) lived in your single member district (SMD) for 60 days, and 3) write yourself in and get more people to write in your name than any other name.

From there, you just have to go the DC Board of Elections and get certified as a candidate. You can contact the BOE via the agency’s website.

Not sure which ANC or SMD you live in? Click here to find out.

If you’re running a write-in campaign, let us know!

We’ve done a lot of work to make sure voters can read the positions of ANC candidates all across the city. We want to make sure voters get the same chance to review as many write-in candidates as possible.

If you’re running a write-in campaign for ANC this election, fill out our 2016 ANC candidate questionnaire by Monday, October 31st. If you know of a candidate, please send this post to them. We will review responses from these candidates quickly and let you know if we found anyone we’d like to endorse before Election Day.

Here are some who’ve already written in

Three write-in candidates have already submitted their answers to our survey:

Here is a link to their full responses. We hope more write-in candidates follow their lead and complete our questionnaire! If you’re voting early and live in one of these districts, read their responses and decide if they’ve earned your vote. We’ll review these three and any others we receive after the Monday, October 31st deadline.

David Whitehead was the Housing Program Organizer at Greater Greater Washington from 2016 to 2019.  A former high school math teacher and a community organizer, David worked to broaden and deepen Greater Greater Washington’s efforts to make the region more livable and inclusive through education, advocacy, and organizing. He lives in Eckington.