WASHINGTON — 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.
“I am a human born in the streets of this city and survived,” said Kim Thompson, an inmate also on the ballot. “I am a human who understands the needs of the marginalized and less fortunate.”
The group, Neighbors for Justice, pressed the D.C. Department of Corrections to engage with jail inmates about the vacancy. The Department released a video on YouTube with the candidates’ platforms, as the challenge of campaigning while incarcerated meant minimal movement to actually campaign.
“I feel an obligation to give back to a community that I’ve taken so much from and I believe now is the right time for that interaction,” Thompson offered on a candidate survey published by Neighbors for Justice.
“I want to be ANC Commissioner because I wholeheartedly believe it's my duty as a resident of this neighborhood,” said Aaron Brown on his survey.
“Recreational centers, Boys and Girls Clubs, improve activities for the youth, educational, religious, and mental health.” Keith Littlepage-El said in response to issues that would be addressed as a commissioner.
“I would also support building a halfway house in the inner city for ex-offenders coming home from the BOP; create more jobs for the youth to narrow down the violence; support DC becoming a state, and get a new prison built in the DMV,” said Gary Proctor, the final candidate on Tuesday’s ballot.