The election Tuesday will be the first of its kind, with all candidates vying for an open seat in the nation’s capital, as they campaign behind bars.
The race is for the most unusual of local government vacancies — a spot on the District’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission, and a chance to represent an area of stunning change and contradiction.
It is an election to serve the inmates of the D.C. Jail, the people within the Harriet Tubman Women’s Shelter, and the new residents of the Park Kennedy apartments — a high-end development evoking the charms of the Champs-Élysées, more so than the cinder-block edifices found across the street.
“My platform will be used to restore the dignity of incarcerated people so that we will no longer be judged by our worst mistake,” said Joel Caston, candidate for the seat formally known as single-member district 7F07.
“Imagine a single-member district, where every voice matters, every concern is heard, and every person is valued.”
Inmates within the jail will be allowed to vote. A poll location will also open at the Park Kennedy apartments (1901 C Street, Southeast) from 3:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on June 15.
A District election statute now allows incarcerated felons to cast ballots, after Mayor Muriel E. Bowser signed the measure into law late last year.
Bubba running for office – who woulda “thunk” that?
(snicker snicker)
Why not, probably no worse than who is on the commission now.