Initiative 83: voters backed ranked choice and semi‑open primaries; witnesses press BOE and OCF on petition verification, implementation funding and dark‑money

What happened: On Feb. 19 the Committee on Executive Administration and Labor heard extended public testimony on the aftermath of Initiative 83 — the citizen referendum that would implement ranked‑choice voting and allow independents to vote in taxpayer‑funded primaries — and on how the Board of Elections (BOE) and the Office of Campaign Finance (OCF) handled petition verification, funding, and related legal challenges.

Petition verification and whiteout: Deirdre Brown, legislative committee co‑chair of the Metropolitan Women’s Democratic Club, told the committee she observed “numerous instances where whiteout had been applied to voter signatures, addresses, and circulated affidavits” during Initiative 83’s petition verification. Brown said BOE acknowledged 4,802 signatures were invalidated for whiteout, but she told the committee “thousands more were altered” and expressed concern about inconsistent standards — for example, staff “holding pages to the light” to judge voter intent. Brown asked for an independent review, clearer written rules prohibiting whiteout, and more uniform enforcement.

Other civic witnesses echoed those concerns. Janice Haines Davis of the D.C. Federation of Democratic Women told the committee the city should delay implementing Initiative 83 until funding for voter education is available and until…