1
2
3 Councilmember Anita Bonds
4
5
6 A RESOLUTION
7
8
9
10 IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
11
12 ____________________
13
14
15 To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the District of Columbia Election Code
16 of 1955 to authorize that the Board of Elections to divide the District into precincts that
17 align with the boundaries of single-member districts before the 2024 primary election.
18
19 RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
20 resolution may be cited as the “Election Precinct Modernization Emergency Declaration
21 Resolution of 2024”.
22 Sec. 2. (a) Currently, D.C. Official Code § 1–1001.05(a)(8) provides that every five years
23 the Board of Elections (“BOE”) shall “divide the District into appropriate voting precincts, each
24 of which shall contain at least 350 registered persons; and draw precinct lines within election
25 wards created by the Council.” BOE last redrew precinct boundaries in 2019, so it must redraw
26 boundaries again this year. The requirement to redraw precinct boundaries coincides with the
27 2024 election cycle, which is already underway.
28 (b) On December 21, 2021, the Council unanimously passed B24-0371 – the Ward
29 Redistricting Amendment Act of 2021, effective February 24, 2022 (D.C. Law 24-0074; 69 DCR
30 2018). The Ward Redistricting Amendment Act amended the Redistricting Procedure Act of
1
31 1981 to adjust the ward boundaries within the District of Columbia, establishing a need to ensure
32 that the precinct lines were also redrawn in order that no precinct line crossed an election ward
33 boundary.
34 (c) On October 18, 2022, the Council passed B24-0507 - the Election Modernization
35 Amendment Act of 2021, effective April 6, 2023 (D.C. Law 24-0342; 70 DCR 6313). The
36 Election Modernization Amendment Act allowed residents to vote in person at any Vote Center
37 in the District, regardless of their assigned precinct. This legislation eliminated the need to create
38 precincts for the purpose of assigning a location for a resident to vote.
39 (d) Because single-member districts (“SMDs”)– our smallest voting districts – overlap
40 with existing precinct lines, BOE has been required to produce over 750 different ballot styles. If
41 precincts are permitted to align with the boundaries of SMDs, only 345 ballot styles will need to
42 be created. Allowing BOE to establish precincts with the same boundaries as SMDs will
43 streamline BOE efforts to prepare for the 2024 elections, the first of which takes place March 3,
44 2024 (Republican Primary). Moreover, this measure will not affect the tallying of votes.
45 Presently, election results are reported at the District-wide, ward, and precinct levels. No results
46 are reported at the SMD-level. Aligning precinct boundaries with SMD boundaries will
47 streamline data reporting and make election results more easily digestible.
48 (e) BOE will begin the process of preparing materials for the election on March 1.
49 Emergency legislation is therefore necessary to ensure that the BOE does not begin the
50 unnecessary effort of printing additional ballot styles or redrawing precinct boundaries that are
51 no longer necessary.
2
52 Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances
53 enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the
54 Election Precinct Emergency Amendment Act of 2024 be adopted after a single reading.
55 Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
56
57
58
59 ______________________________
60 Chairman
61 Council of the District of Columbia
62
63
64
65
66
67 _________________________________
68 Mayor
69 District of Columbia
70
3