To the Editor:
Some might be confused or fooled by the names that will appear on the Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) sample ballot that will be distributed at the polls on Election Day.
Two Democrats are running for Herndon Mayor — Keven LeBlanc and Pradip Dhakal — and yet only Dhakal’s name will be on the FCDC sample ballot. Nine candidates are running for Herndon town council, and yet only five names will appear on the FCDC sample ballot. Those five all got onto the sample ballot unopposed, while the others refused to participate in partisan party politics for Herndon.
Our town founders, and many current residents, expressed that they want Herndon elections to stay nonpartisan. So how is it that FCDC weighed in to Herndon elections, when they did not weigh in to any other town elections? (e.g., Vienna or Clifton). It is because Councilmen Pradip Dhakal and Cesar del Aguila solicited the FCDC to get involved in Herndon’s elections. At their request, the FCDC membership (only a fraction of whom are from Herndon) decided to conduct a caucus endorsement vote in Herndon.
FCDC decided that they would “allow the people of Herndon to vote” to decide which candidates FCDC should endorse. But they did not tell the Herndon residents that the caucus vote was occurring. Also, any town residents who were Republican, Libertarian, nonpartisan or who just did not want to declare any party, were not allowed to vote in the caucus. Some of those who tried to vote online had many technical issues, and were unable to vote. There are about 25,000 residents who live in Herndon and only about two percent of them voted in this caucus, which resulted in Dhakal winning by a small number. This caucus vote was not only statistically insignificant, and does not reflect the will of the Herndon voters, but it was also an unfair process.
The caucus vote was not a primary. In actual primaries, all Democrats would be running against each other and the winner would advance to run in the general election. But not so with the FCDC caucus vote. The FCDC is a nonprofit organization and the only purpose of their caucus was to decide whose name would be put on their sample ballot. The FCDC sample ballot carries no more weight than any other organization’s sample ballot that might be distributed at the polls.
Both LeBlanc and Dhakal — two Democrats — are still running for Mayor.
Dhakal and del Aguila worked to seek FCDC’s involved in Herndon elections because they know if their name appears on the FCDC sample ballot, then those Herndon residents (who, demographically, are mostly Democrats) who show up on Election Day to vote for president will likely vote for whomever else is on the FCDC sample ballot as well. It also means that Dhakal and del Aguila will be more beholden to the FCDC than to Herndon residents.
I support nonpartisan elections in Herndon. I also support Keven LeBlanc for Mayor and I hope you will too.
Barbara Glakas
Herndon, VA