Introduction of the District of Columbia Special Elections Home Rule Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia Special Elections Home Rule Act. This bill would give the District of Columbia complete authority to set the date of special elections for local offices, like other jurisdictions. This bill would remove a limitation in the D.C. Home Rule Act that is not only inconsistent with the self-government granted by the Home Rule Act, but is also harmful.

In 2012, I got legislation enacted that gave the D.C. Board of Elections (Board) more flexibility to set the date of special elections for local offices. Although I sought complete authority for D.C. to set the date of special elections, the 2012 law did not include this home- rule principle.

The Home Rule Act originally required the Board to hold special elections on the first Tuesday occurring more than 114 days after a vacancy and allowed the Board to schedule special elections on the same day as the next general election if that election occurred within 60 days from when a special election would otherwise have been held. This inflexibility led to special elections being held on religious holidays and forced D.C. to hold a special election separate from an upcoming general election, costing D.C. hundreds of thousands of dollars. The 2012 law requires the Board to hold a special election on a Tuesday occurring between 70 and 174 days after a vacancy.

This bill is an important step to perfect home rule for D.C. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source