During July’s Meet Up With Mendelson, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said in his personal view the BOE should enforce and investigate ANC Commissioners who don’t live in the single-member district to which they were elected.
How did we get here? On February 17, 2023, The DC Board of Elections received, by mail, a request for an investigation into the qualifications of Commissioner Holly Muhammad by Tom Donohue a ten-year resident of ANC8A01, and small business owner. Mr. Donohue asked for an investigation on the grounds that Commissioner Muhammad does not reside in Advisory Neighborhood Commission Single Member District(ANC-SMD) 8A03 at 1915 Minnesota Ave, SE, 20020. He submitted materials including sworn affidavits by process servers declaring neighbors telling them Ms. Muhammad did not live there. Additionally, they made seven attempts to contact her including one during an ANC meeting, which all failed as she was not home.
On April 25, 2023, Registrar of Voters, Marissa Corrente sent ANC8A Chairwoman Jamila White a letter stating,
“Pursuant to DC Official Code § 1- 309.06(f)(2), a vacancy in an ANC is a matter for the ANC to determine. The code specifies the ANC should hold a special meeting to consider the seat in question. The code states:”
Registrar of Voters, Marissa Corrente
to which Chairwoman White responded, “According to the statute included, a meeting is needed if we have determined a vacancy, and we do not have a vacancy.” A second letter was then sent by Ms. Corrente saying, ”Please note that since I last reached out, the Election Modernization Act has become law which now changes DC Official Code § 1- 309.06(f)(2 )…
Considering the statute update, I refer this matter back to ANC 8A for deliberation at a properly noticed ANC meeting as is required by law.”
As of the date of this posting, no known response had been made.
On Father’s Day 2023, ANC8A01 Commissioner Tanya Crawford engaged in a conversation with Donohue while he was livestreaming a block party that the commissioner was hosting. In this conversation, Crawford approached Donohue while standing next to his camera and tripod and is clearly heard saying “I’m gonna be honest with you Holly Muhammad doesn’t live over here.. look she don’t live over here… She don’t live here, she don’t live here”
The BOE Initial letter: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:7bff7dad-f01e-3eaf-868a-d8548ac0ae3d
The second letter:: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:11cb2c5c-50de-3cf7-a217-1ae6c4150d27