WASHINGTON, D.C. — The race to watch on Washington’s Nov. 3 general election ballot is not for mayor but for the D.C. Council’s At-Large seats, where ranked choice voting is changing how the votes get counted.
Two At-Large members are elected every two years, and city law holds one of those seats for someone outside the majority party. Democratic nominee Oye Owolewa, the city’s shadow representative, is expected to take one seat. Independent incumbent Elissa Silverman, Republican Darrell Green and Statehood-Green candidate Darryl Moch are competing for the other.
Voters may rank as many as five candidates. Officials first count only first choices; if nobody has a majority, trailing candidates drop out and their backers’ next choices move up until someone passes 50%. Because Owolewa is likely to clear a majority on first choices, ballots that rank him first will not shift to anyone else. The Council looked at rewriting the counting rule this summer but dropped the idea.
Every registered voter has already been mailed a ballot, which can be returned by mail if sent by Nov. 3, at a drop box or at a vote center. In-person early voting runs Oct. 26 through Nov. 1.
The elections board has posted ballot-order lists for the general election and for Advisory Neighborhood Commission seats, sample ballots by ward including versions for noncitizen residents, and time-off-to-vote notices for workers and students.
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Filed under: Washington DC Politics News
