A8
EZ SU ELECTION 2010 | THE DISTRICT Historic results
D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray defeated incumbent Adrian M. Fenty by 54 to 45 percent on Tuesday for the Democratic nomination for mayor. Te vote marked the third time in District history that residents have ousted a sitting mayor.
Gray beat Fenty in his home precinct in Crestwood with 56 percent of the vote.
Rock Creek Park
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Mayoral Primary Gray
Percent votes by precinct
13-35% 36-50 51-75 76-88
SOURCE: D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics 295 8
Gray lives in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Ward 7.
MARY KATE CANNISTRA/THE WASHINGTON POST 2 6 5 1 50
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
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Awell-wisher hugsD.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray after his win overD.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in the Democratic primary.
Likely next mayor has work cut out for him mayor from A1
city’s public schools began instantly as Gray continued to decline to say whether he would seek to retain controversial SchoolsChancellorMichelleA. Rhee,and Rhee, who earlier said she could not imagine working with Gray, remained publicly noncommittal about her next steps. “We are going to be moving full speed
ahead,”Gray said outside theWashington Court Hotel, where he slept after he celebrated his nine-point win over Fenty. “I look forward to that, but I also look forward to people holding me account- able.”
Concerns about approach Gray also facesquestions aboutwheth-
er his collegial, collaborative approach can work in a city where voters appear deeply divided over what they expect from their local government. Although about 80 percent of voters in
majority-black neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River supportedGray,anequal portion of residents in affluent, predomi- nantly white areas of Northwest Wash- ington voted for Fenty. The results sug- gest that the District, long a city of economic extremes, remains split over how best to achieve effective govern-
MAYOR 143 OF 143 PRECINCTS REPORTING
STATEHOOD GREEN Faith
DEMOCRATS • Vincent C. Gray
Ernest E. Johnson Leo Alexander Sulaimon Brown Adrian M. Fenty*
COUNCIL Chairman
STATEHOOD GREEN • Ann C.Wilcox
DEMOCRATS Vincent Orange
• Kwame R. Brown Dorothy Douglas
At Large
DEMOCRATS • Phil Mendelson*
Michael Brown Clark Ray
STATEHOOD GREEN • David Schwartzman
Darryl L. C. Moch Ward 1
REPUBLICANS • Marc Morgan
DEMOCRATS Jeff Smith
BryanWeaver
• Jim Graham* Ward 3
DEMOCRATS • Mary Cheh*
REPUBLICANS • Dave Hedgepeth
Ward 5
REPUBLICANS • Tim Day
DEMOCRATS Kenyan McDuffie
Delano Hunter
• Harry Tommy Thomas Jr.* Tracey D Turner
Ward 6
DEMOCRATS • TommyWells*
Kelvin Robinson
REPUBLICANS • Jim DeMartino
• winner
* incumbent Results are unofficial. Source: D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics
179 100%
62,174 257 761 173
52,130
54 0 1 0
45 143 OF 143 PRECINCTS REPORTING 366 100%
41,595 59,084 5,859
67,788 29,525 9,183
286 126
39 55 5
143 OF 143 PRECINCTS REPORTING
64% 28 9
69 31
16 OF 16 PRECINCTS REPORTING 121 100%
2,903 2,849 7,777
21 21 57
17 OF 17 PRECINCTS REPORTING 12,835 100% 557 100 18 OF 18 PRECINCTS REPORTING 90 100%
2,121 3,091 9,556 593
11,082 3,718
14 20 62 4
18 OF 18 PRECINCTS REPORTING
75% 25
392 100 ‘Mismanagement’ slap angers D.C. elections board election from A1
whomyou speak.” West said board executives had done
yeomen’s work under a crushing man- date to implement early voting, same-day registration and a host of new machines all at once. Responding to West’s criticism of her
comments,Chehsaid: “Idon’tknowwhat to call that other than mismanagement. It’s supposed to run smoothly. That’s the way I see it.” She added: “If we can’t get out results
three hours after [polls close], when ev- ery other jurisdiction that had a contest hadsomethingout at thatpoint, it almost speaks for itself thatwe have a problem.” It actually took nearly six hours before
elections officials had reported enough precincts to declare winners in nine city Democratic races — none of which was any closer than the 9 percentage points that represented themargin in the head- line clash between Gray andMayor Adri- anM. Fenty. Elections officials said the delays can
be attributed in part to the city’s optical- scan ballots, whose results are recorded on electronic cartridges that cannot be read until they are “closed” at the end of the voting period. Also, Tuesday was the first time most pollworkershad used the newequipment inanactual vote, slowing the process of closing the machines. A third factor was the election board’s em-
phasis on accuracy over speed after polls closed. “If youwant speed, youwill get inaccu-
rate results,” said Rokey W. Suleman II, the elections board’s chief executive. “If we are fast and we release inaccurate results,wewill be pilloried in the press.” Gray on Wednesday continued to ex-
press “concern” about the voting. On Tuesdayafternoon,he filedanemergency court petition to extend poll hours after some precincts’ openingswere delayed. In what has become a biennial tradi-
tion for the board, the counting extended well into the night, delayed by cautious officials who said that the need to verify voter talliesoutweighedadesire toreport timely results. About 11:30 p.m., resultswere still just
beginning to trickle out even as results pouredinfromstatewide races across the country.Twohoursearlier, theAssociated Press had already called the Republican primary race for Delaware’s sole House seat—a race that appeared to be decided by a margin similar to the mayoral race. (Delaware’s polls also closed at 8 p.m.) Counting ceased about 2 a.m., with
about 90 percent ofD.C. precincts tallied, because the cartridges of some voting machines scattered across the city had notmade it to electionheadquarters.The remaining precincts were tallied Wednesday afternoon, with more than 10,000 absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted in the coming days.
Jack Evans, the council's longest-serv-
ingmember, joined the chorus disparag- ing the elections board Wednesday, call- ing the late results “inexcusable.” “You can’t even have a victory party
anymore,” said Evans (D-Ward 2). Evans isamongthe voterswhoremem-
ber when the “morning returns” were posted almost immediately after polls closed, followed by the evening tallies an houror twolater.Thatproceduredates to the days of paper punch-card ballots, whichwere counted and tabulated at the board’sheadquarters.Atnoon,pollwork- erswouldgather themorning ballots and take themdowntown for an early count. Butwhenthe city adoptedoptical-scan
ballots, themidday tallies ended. Many wondered why the more than
22,000early voteswerenot talliedearlier. “At leastwewouldhavehadsomething to work with,” said William O’Field, a for- mer D.C. elections official who is now a consultant. Suleman explained that there were
concerns about the security of the tabula- tion process if done before polls were closed. Also, for the first time, D.C. law man-
dated that poll workers print and post a paper tally of each precinct’s results be- fore sending the cartridges to board headquarters. There, workers compared the numbers downloaded from the car- tridges with the printout before posting them to aWeb site. Software incompati-
bilities created additional delays in pub- licly reporting the results. Returns will come “significantly fast-
er” inNovember, Suleman said. Tuesday’s other problems were also
attributed more to poll worker inexperi- ence thanissueswiththemachines them- selves, which had many questioning worker preparation. “The training did not do what it need-
edtodo,” saidO’Field,who saidhe visited some precincts Tuesday that were short ofworkers. Suleman noted that unfamiliarity will
always be an issue with new equipment, especially new technology like the elec- tronic poll books deployed for the first time this year. They resemble small lap- tops. “The great majority [of poll workers]
are senior citizens,” Suleman said. “They’re not the most tech-savvy folks. Some are spectacular. Some are less spec- tacular.” Cheh said poll workers’ “performance
issues are one ofmanagement.” But she called the city’s 15 days of early
voting “an unqualified success” — an assessment few have quibbled with. And she expressed confidence Wednesday in Suleman’s ability to prepare for the No- vember elections. West seconded that assessment. The
board’s staff, he said, “did what it was asked to do.”
debonism@washpost.com
ment, financial stability, education re- form and safe streets. When Fenty took office in 2007, he
began a national search to fill top-level administration jobs, an approach, he said, that helped draw new talent to a governmentwith a long-standing reputa- tion for inefficiency. But Fenty’s early hires — and the fact that he chose a city administrator, police chief, fire chief, attorney general and schools head who are not black—contributed to his down- fall, leading some African Americans to consider him out of touch with the city’s majority population. Gray said he will not make decisions
about his transition or personnel choices until after the Nov. 2 election. But he is expected to begin informal discussions soon about the shape of the administra- tion that will take over in January. Supporters of Gray and Fenty will
watch especially closely as Gray begins what will probably be sensitive discus- sions about Rhee, who is one of the most admired and most disliked figures in the city. Since taking over the 45,000-student system in 2007, Rhee has won national acclaim for her efforts to boost test scores, refurbish schools and recruit a new wave of younger, more innovative teachers. But she also became a symbol, especially to some black voters, of what Fenty called his “brash” manner and impatience for change. Rhee and Gray have clashed over her leadership style and pace of reform. Gray declined to say during the campaign whether he would retain the chancellor. Gray warned against any expectation of a quick decision about who will run the
schools. “I don’t think anybody believes he has
actually made a final decision on this,” said one Gray adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so he could talk freely about discussions with the chair- man.
Despite Gray’s support for many of
Fenty’s school reform efforts, many key Gray supporters, including leaders of the teachers union, are expected to urge that Rhee be dismissed. How Gray navigates the Rhee decision
could set the stage for the rest of his administration, several observers and business leaders said. Jim Dinegar, presi- dent and chief executive of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, said his organization endorsed Fenty but is eager to work with Gray. Dinegar said some business leaders remain wary of Gray’s close ties to unions. “He’s seemingly all in with the unions,”
Dinegar said. “We’re hoping to collabo- rate. This cannot become a union town.” Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward
2), a fiscal moderate, said the relation- ship between the executive and the coun- cil under Gray and Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), who won the Democratic primary for council chairman Tuesday, would be significantly more collabora- tive than that of Gray and Fenty. Evans said it would be “good for the city.” Gray’s closest advisers are bracing fora
crush of inquiries from job seekers, in- cluding some who were laid off by Fenty. Lorraine Green, who is chairman of
Gray’s campaign and is expected to head his transition team, said it’s too early to speculateonwhowill hold key jobs in the next administration. Evans said the challenge for Gray will
be “how to deal with all the groups who come to him saying: ‘I supported you. Where’smy share?’ ”
Framework for a team But the framework of the Gray team is
starting to emerge. Many Gray friends and advisers say they expect him to assemble a team including veterans of past administrations and fresh faces. In an interview with The Washington
Post shortly before the election,Gray said voters should look at the type of people who ran his campaign for clues about whom he would ask to serve in govern- ment. Several of Gray’s top hires in the campaign where unconventional: He hired Adam Rubinson, who had been deputy chief technology officer for for- mermayorAnthonyA. Williams, tobehis campaign manager even though Rubin- son last ran a campaign two decades ago. Gray’s chief strategist,Mo Elleithee, was a veteran of numerous Democratic cam- paigns in Virginia and around the coun- try but had no experience overseeing a mayor’s race. Rubinson could be in line for a job in a Gray administration. Reuben O. Charles II, 41, a wealthy
venture capitalist who lives in Wesley Heights, also could play a key role in a Gray administration, perhaps becoming chief of staff, said people familiar with
l For complete results of all D.C. races as well as all local and state races in Maryland, please see Metro. | B1, B6-8
the campaign. Charles, a native of Guy- anawhomovedto the District three years ago after starting his career in the Mid- west, spearheaded Gray’s fundraising ef- fort. Charles helped Gray raise $2 million
by aggressively targeting young profes- sionals,manyofwhomhadties to African and Caribbean immigrant communities. “If you would have asked me this
question three years ago, I would have laughed you out of the room,” Charles said when asked whether he would join the administration. “But Iwouldcontem- plate very seriously if such an offer was raised.”
SuzannePeck, a former chief technolo-
gy officer of the city, was also a major Graysupporterandfundraiserwhocould play a key role in the administration. Others mentioned for top jobs in a
Gray administration are better-known locally. Stanley Jackson, who was deputy mayor for planning and economic devel- opment in the Williams administration, has been mentioned as a possible city administrator. Robert C. Bobb, who was city administrator under Williams, is another Gray supporter who could re- turn to a city job. Bobb is emergency financial manager of the Detroit public school system and commutes from his home inWashington. “Ihave a job todoinDetroit,” he said at
Gray’s victory party. “I have a contract untilMarch. Then I’mback full time.”
craigt@washpost.com
marimowa@washpost.com
Staff writers Nikita Stewart and Henri E. Cauvin contributed to this report.
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