The chairwoman of a special D.C. Council elections committee is trying to force a key government official to answer questions under oath about problems during the November elections.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, who chairs a special committee investigating recent election-related failures, is using a subpoena to make Sylvia Goldsberry-Adams, executive director of the Board of Elections and Ethics, submit to a deposition on Dec. 8 “since apparently they will not turn up by simple request.” Details are still being worked out, but Cheh said the event may be open to the public.
Goldsberry-Adams was scheduled to participate in a Nov. 13 hearing before Cheh’s special committee on problems that cropped up in the days leading up to the general election, and on Election Day itself: Absentee ballots were incorrectly designed; completed ballots were unsecured; and initial election results were released more than four hours after the polls closed.
But Goldsberry-Adams didn’t show up for the hearing, claiming a medical condition, Cheh said. No member of the elections board replaced her, Cheh said. No staff member could be reached and the agency declined to provide written testimony.
“They have been unwilling to engage the public at a level I believe is appropriate,” Cheh said. “I have to use what means are available.”
Dan Murphy, spokesman for the elections board, did not return repeated calls and e-mails Monday for comment. It is unclear whether Goldsberry-Adams will show up to the deposition.
Cheh reiterated a familiar council worry — that Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration has continued to demonstrate a “pattern of indifference” toward legislative oversight. But there is no reason to believe, Cheh said, that the independent elections board coordinated with Fenty to avoid testifying at the earlier committee hearing.
Cheh also announced that the committee will ask the D.C. Superior Court to order Sequoia Voting Systems, the District’s contracted elections manager, to turn over the software it uses to run its voting machines. Sequoia has not complied with a subpoena from the committee requiring it to part with the proprietary codes.
“We believe there are glitches in the software and we want to discover them,” Cheh said.
