Settlement of Lawsuit Will Allow DC Special Elections To Avoid Religious Holiday Conflicts

The Washington Post reports that last week a settlement was reached in a lawsuit that Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld brought last year against the District of Columbia over the scheduling of special elections in conflict with religious holidays.  The city charter currently requires that any special election be scheduled the first Tuesday that is 114 days after a vacancy is declared. This resulted in a 2011 special election for a Council member and two school board members to be scheduled on the 8th day of Passover. (See prior posting.) Under the settlement, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray will submit a charter amendment to D.C. Council and D.C. voters that will give the Board of Elections and Ethics discretion to avoid this sort of conflict by allowing the election to be scheduled between 100 and 130 days after a vacancy is declared.