Petition organizer admits some signatures on Jack Evans recall petition were forged
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ward 2 resident Adam Eidinger has been working non-stop to vet the signatures he and volunteers collected.
The signatures, sent to the Board of Elections, may result in a recall election – which could force out Councilmember Jack Evans.
Evans has been has been accused of violating the council’s ethics rules.
On Tuesday, the council voted to recommend expelling Evans.
READ: D.C. Council committee unanimously votes to recommend expelling Jack Evans
“What we are doing here is trucking along, making sure our data is correct, because you never know,” Eidinger said. “Since Saturday, we’ve been auditing his signatures that he’s challenging.”
Last month the group turned in thousands of signatures, as required by the Board of Elections.
Evans claims some of those signatures are invalid.
“The handwriting for these signatures appears to be written in the same hand” according to the claims made his challenge.
“Towards the end of the campaign, we hired signatures collectors,” Eidinger said. “And a young signature collector from Maryland, new to D.C. ....second time he went out, someone from the intercom had said, ‘come down just sign for me’ and when he did that, he just said I’ll do that with other people too.”
He estimates that roughly a dozen signatures will be invalid for that reason.
“But it doesn’t really represent this campaign,” he said.
He still believes that he has enough residents who signed on the dotted line to continue in his mission, in the event that the council doesn’t act next month.
“When you audit these signatures, you find that 90% of these signatures are valid,” he said.
As required by the board of elections. the board has 30 days to review their signatures and 20 days to review Jack Evans’ challenge.
“I expect that the full council will receive the Ad Hoc committee’s report on December 17th, will set a hearing for the first week in January, and will vote on expulsion two weeks later,” Mendelson said in a statement Tuesday.
