A majority of West End and Foggy Bottom Advisory Neighborhood Commission seats remain vacant after the D.C. Board of Elections earlier this month quelled reports that two write-in candidates won seats following November’s election.
The D.C. Board of Elections earlier this month said write-in candidates Bruce Majors and Dennis Sobin, who were presumed to have won the single-member district 2A06 and 2A09 seats given they filled out write-in paperwork and received two votes each, would not assume the positions because other unregistered write-in nominees received more votes. Some of the body’s incumbents — who argued Majors and Sobin were unfit to serve — said they’re grateful the write-in candidates won’t join the ANC, while Sobin filed a petition to the D.C. Court of Appeals in an attempt to regain his seat.
“By law, only the highest vote earner can, provided that that person is also qualified, be certified the winner,” said Sarah Winn Graham, the D.C. Board of Election’s director of communications, in an email.
Write-in candidates must complete an Affirmation of Write-in Candidacy form declaring they will accept the position if elected, and file the document with the D.C. Board of Elections at least seven days after the election, according to D.C. law. Sobin and Majors both filed the Affiliation of Write-in Candidacy form on Nov. 11, days after the election.
Former ANC commissioners Yannik Omictin, Joel Causey and Evelyn Hudson — none of whom ran for re-election — all received more votes than Majors and Sobin with two, four and three votes, respectively, according to court documents Malec said he obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Graham said if the highest vote earner is disqualified from the race, like in the case of Omictin, Causey and Hudson, who did not file the forms needed to accept the seat, the D.C. Board of Elections cannot certify the “runner-up” as the winner. Instead, the seat remains vacant, Graham said.
D.C. Board of Elections’ regulations require that “[i]f a write-in winner is declared ineligible after the election, no winner shall be declared,” according to District of Columbia Municipal Regulations and District of Columbia Register.
But Sobin said he disagrees with the D.C. Board of Elections interpretation of the law. On Dec. 9, he filed a petition to the D.C. Court of Appeals asking the court to reverse the D.C. Board of Elections’ decision to not to certify him as the winner of single-member district 2A09. He is representing himself in the case.
Sobin argues he was the only “legitimate” write-in candidate in the race because was the only contender in his single-member district to file the proper paperwork, according to the filing.
“He received two votes, and since no other candidate received more — despite the possibility that more than two voters wrote in the name of non-candidates such as Julius Caesar, John Smith, Donald Duck or anyone else — he should be certified the winner,” the filing reads.
Sobin argues in the filing that counting the votes of “non-candidates” is “not proper.” He said a nominee who didn’t register as a write-in candidate shouldn’t be regarded in the process.
“Perhaps this is because petitioner is a controversial person who has been arrested and incarcerated many times for championing the rights of adults to view any literature and smoke or ingest any substances they choose,” the filing reads.
In 2005, a Florida jury convicted Sobin on seven felony counts involving child pornography and racketeering after he faced arrest in February 1991 for taking nude video footage of two children at a Central Pasco nudist campground.
The D.C. Board of Elections, represented by attorneys Terri D. Stroud and Christine Pembroke, filed a motion to strike on Dec. 12. Sobin filed an opposition to the respondent’s motion to strike on Dec. 16.
Sobin said he does not plan to run for election should there be re-election in January, and he instead plans to appeal to higher courts until he gains the 2A09 seat.
“You have to follow the law in this country,” Sobin said in an interview with The Hatchet. “And they did not.”
The D.C. Board of Election’s announcement comes after ANC Chair and 2A03 Commissioner-elect Trupti Patel and Malec said following the November election that the candidates are not fit for the position, citing Majors’ spreading of election conspiracy theories and Sobin’s status as a registered sex offender.
“These potential incoming colleagues do not exemplify conduct becoming of their position, and that is the strongest rebuke I can give in my official capacity as chair,” Patel said before the D.C. Board of Elections certified the results.
Majors made bids for office as a libertarian over the past few years and on social media platforms has posted claims that Donald Trump won the 2020 election and COVID-19 vaccines cause harm.
“I post so many things including things just to be the rise of the people,” Majors said in an interview with The Hatchet before the D.C. Board of Elections certified the results. “I’m not sure if I have so much posted that I think he won the 2020 election as I reposted people saying that.”
Malec on Nov. 21 posted a thread on X expressing his disapproval of the write-in candidates, saying he would not work Sobin and Majors on the commission. Malec and Majors sparred on X beginning Nov. 22, with Malec posting his concerns about Majors’ candidacy and Majors refusing to step down.
Majors said before the election certification that he planned to assume his seat on the ANC should he win the election. Majors did not respond request to comment after the certification of election results on Dec. 3.
Rory Quealy contributed reporting.
