Critics said the election’s structure made it impossible for a woman to win. New elections for the two vice chair slots will begin June 12.
Members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have voted 294–99 to overturn the Feb. 1 election of vice chairs David Hogg and Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcom Kenyatta, authorizing new elections in the coming days.
The previous election was called into question by Democratic Party Oklahoma representative and attorney Kalyn Free, who said its structure made it “mathematically impossible” for a woman to win.
There were two empty vice chair slots, and the DNC’s complex gender parity statutes required that the first slot be filled by a man; the second could be any gender. Instead of holding two separate elections, the DNC placed all five candidates on one ballot, put both seats on that ballot, and combined the results.
This gave the two men on the ballot a mathematical advantage over the three female candidates, critics said. Kenyatta received 289 votes, and Hogg received 214.
The DNC will now hold do-over elections with the same five candidates via electronic balloting. The first election, which must appoint a man according to DNC rules, will be held June 12–15. The second, which may be any gender, will be held on June 15–17.
Hogg recently garnered controversy within the party in his role as vice chair after he threatened in April to hold primaries against “asleep at the wheel” members of his party through his Leaders We Deserve PAC.
In response to Hogg’s push, DNC Chair Ken Martin said that the DNC needed to be a “referee” with its officials remaining neutral on primary contests.
“If you want to challenge incumbents, you’re more than free to do that, but just not as an officer of the DNC, because our job is to be neutral arbiters. We can’t be both the referee and also the player at the same time,” Martin said.
Hogg alleged that the decision to overturn the election was a convenient way to vote him out of leadership. He acknowledged that the election result was challenged before he announced his shakeup of the Democratic Party, but said “the consensus” among members he spoke to was that the challenge would be ignored.
