After listening last week to DC Board of Elections (BOE) chair Michael Bennett and executive director Alice Miller trying to explain the chaotic mess they made of the June 2 primary, I wondered, Where is Emmett H. Fremaux Jr.? The well-regarded Elections Board director from 1983 to 1996 may be the only person who can successfully ensure a well-run November general election.
Before Fremaux arrived in the District, “elections in DC were a national embarrassment,” recalled Dorothy Brizill, co-director of DC Watch, a government watchdog group that has focused for decades on election issues in the city.
There were ample reasons for ridicule: Ballot cards printed in multiple colors — pink, buff, tangerine — created voter confusion. In 1976, two ballot boxes fell off an open truck. The data on the voter rolls were unreliable. READ MORE