Ward 3 Council candidates are asking for your vote. But first, they’d really like your signature.

A protest vote in 1938, when DC residents couldn’t vote for their own city representative, let alone the president of the United States. (Library of Congress photo)

by Marlene Berlin

Over the next couple of weeks, if you happen to be in a public place with a lot of foot traffic (perhaps passing by the Van Ness Giant or Politics and Prose), there’s a good chance someone will ask you to sign a ballot petition.

Candidates for DC offices need to collect the signatures of registered voters in their own party to get on the ballot for the primary election, so the person with the petition and clipboard, pen in hand, will ask about that, too.

You’re not committing to any one candidate at this point. You can sign all petitions that align with your registered political party, if you wish. You have until the June 21st primary to figure out which candidate gets your support. And even if you know already who will get your vote, you can also take the position that it is good to support people getting involved in politics and deciding to run. It is a big decision and deserves our respect.

Democrats running in citywide races, such as mayor, Council chair and Council member at-large, must submit 2,000 valid signatures. Democratic candidates for Ward races, including Ward 3 Council member, need 250 signatures.

To be safe, candidates try to collect twice the required number of signatures because of possible errors. Sometimes people sign ballot petitions for candidates of the wrong party, or they are not even registered to vote. In same cases, the voter’s printed name is illegible.

If you’re a Democrat in Ward 3 hanging out in a popular and populated spot (such as the Palisades farmers market), it’s highly likely you’ll encounter someone or someones collecting signatures for candidates running for the Ward 3 Council seat.

At Palisades Farmers Market, @juliezweil (w notebook) interviews W3 @councilofdc candidate @WPhilThomas https://t.co/CViKo71XsW pic.twitter.com/UwpRnFwgg4

— bill rice (@ricebilldc) March 7, 2022

Before the incumbent, Mary Cheh, announced she was pulling out of the race for re-election, she had two Democratic challengers: Deidre Brown and Monika Nemeth. Now, there are nine or so Democrats vying for the position. And they must all get their petitions signed and submitted to the DC Board of Elections by March 23rd.

Here is the list. Clicking their names will take you to their campaign websites, if available, and to their Twitter account, if not. (Candidates: Feel free to post your site’s link in the comments.)

• Ben Bergman
• Deidre Brown
• Henry Cohen
• Tricia Duncan
• Beau Finley
• Matthew Frumin
• Eric Goulet
• Monte Monash
• Monica Nemeth

(withdrew on March 20)

• Phil Thomas

Not every candidate for Ward 3 Council has to collect 250 signatures for access to the primary ballot. The actual Board of Elections requirement is “250 signatures or 1% (whichever is less) of duly registered voters in the same party and residing in the same ward as the candidate.”

As of January 31, 2022, Ward 3 had 59,710 registered voters, 42,127 of them Democrats and 5,286 of them Republicans. David Krucoff, the sole Republican running for the Ward 3 Council, has to collect 50 or so signatures to appear on the Republican primary ballot. There are no candidates from other parties in this race at this time.

If that changes or we’ve missed a Ward 3 Council candidate, let us know at [email protected] or in the comments below.