Have you ever thought about being an ANC commissioner? Now’s your chance to run.

On June 26, petitions will be available for candidates for advisory neighborhood commission seats, which will be decided in the November 3 general election. ANCs advise on a countless number of decisions that impact their neighborhood, from redevelopment projects to traffic calming and safety upgrades on streets.

If you’re reading this and live in DC, you’re just as qualified as anyone to serve in what is arguably the region’s most charming, most lovable, occasionally most frustrating and pedantic, and most hyper-local publicly elected office. You should consider running!

How do ANC elections work?

Petitions will be available to run for ANC starting June 26. You need to collect 10 signatures from registered voters in your single-member district by August 5. The election is November 3. Friday, November 6 is the deadline to certify write-in candidates. The Board of Elections information is here.

Each commissioner represents a single-member district of about 2,000 people, which roughly aligns with a Census tract. There are 40 ANCs in the city. Though the positions are unpaid, they’re publicly elected. Someone running for an ANC seat in Mount Pleasant follows the same process as someone in Stronghold or Congress Heights.

This year, due to coronavirus, the Board of Elections dropped the signature requirement from 25 registered voters in a single-member district to 10. After you pick up a petition, you need to collect those signatures and submit them by August 5. You can do digitally.

Because the number of people who elect ANCs is so small, and because the fields are small, races are sometimes won with just a handful of votes. There are also often opportunities for write-in candidates.

You can find your ANC at ancfinder.org. Have you considered running for ANC?

What do advisory neighborhood commissioners do?

ANCs were established when the District government that we know today was formed under the Home Rule Act. ANCs are a check on the council’s power, and can elevate neighborhood-level concerns to councilmembers and agencies.

ANCs have “great weight,” which, per the DC Code, “requires acknowledgement of the Commission as the source of the recommendations and explicit reference to each of the Commission’s issues and concerns.” That means that government entities are required to respond to requests, concerns, and questions sent by advisory neighborhood commissioners. ANCs meet monthly, though commissioners are generally expected to respond to constituent concerns between meetings.

Though “great weight” is the only legal power that ANCs technically possess, the commissions are often treated as the most official “community” voice. Serving as an ANC commissioner means you are typically the front line for the most immediate of neighborhood concerns, such as noise complaints, and that you can substantially influence projects that are required to solicit neighborhood input, such as planned unit developments.

Here’s what we wrote in 2018 about why running for ANC can make a difference:

“ANCs meet monthly to vote on a variety of issues, passing resolutions and maintaining a regular space for residents to address changes and debate. Others organize committees of residents to evaluate and weigh in on different issues. Legally ANC resolutions are not law, but carry what is defined as “great weight” in other DC government agencies and processes. However, the informal power of ANCs is far reaching, and the relationships commissioners build within the DC government and with top elected officials are influential.

For urbanists, ANCs play a particularly important role shaping and managing the growth of neighborhoods. Most developments, road and transit improvements come before the ANC for debate and a vote. Commissions are also instrumental in bargaining for developing community benefits packages in larger Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), and in general are the official venue for where these development and growth conversations project by project.

A strong forward-thinking ANC can fight for the interests of their constituents while also balancing the needs of the city and get a lot of good done. An anti-change ANC can do a lot damage, and a dysfunctional ANC negates one of the purest forms of hyper-local democracy around.

You don’t need to be an expert on these issues (though knowing something helps). You don’t need to be a politician (though enjoying politics helps). Most of all, the city needs committed residents who care about their neighborhoods and want to help them be better, can compromise, can fight for equitable change, can listen, and can organize their neighbors’ interests.”

All of that is still true! You should consider running.

We endorse candidates for ANCs!

GGWash endorsed candidates for ANC seats, and provided training, for the first time in 2018. We’ll be doing the same thing this election cycle, and will be posting more details in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, if you’ve got questions about our endorsements, about what you need to know to run, or about ANCs in general, email abaca@ggwash.org. Once again, you should consider running!