{"data":{"id":"us-dc/d.c.-code-1-1001.02","jurisdiction":"us-dc","citation":"D.C. Code § 1-1001.02","heading":"Definitions.","body":"For the purposes of this subchapter:\n\n(1)\nThe term “District” means the District of Columbia.\n\n(2)\nThe term “qualified elector” means a person who:\n(A)\nIs at least 17 years of age and who will be 18 years of age on or before the next general election;\n(B)\nIs a citizen of the United States; except, that this subparagraph shall not apply in a local election;\n(C)\nHas maintained a residence in the District for at least 30 days preceding the next election and does not claim voting residence or right to vote in any state, territory, or country; and\n(D)\nRepealed.\n(E)\nHas not been found by a court of law to be legally incompetent to vote.\n\n(3)\nThe term “Board” means the District of Columbia Board of Elections provided for by § 1-1001.03.\n\n(4)\nThe term “ward” means an election ward established by the Council.\n\n(5)\nThe term “State Board of Education” means the State Board of Education established by § 38-2651.\n\n(6)\nThe term “Delegate” means the Delegate to the House of Representatives from the District of Columbia.\n\n(7)\nThe term “felony” includes any crime committed in the District of Columbia referred to in §§ 1-1001.14, 1-1162.32, and 1-1163.35.\n\n(8)\nThe term “Council” or “Council of the District of Columbia” means the Council of the District of Columbia established pursuant to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act [§ 1-201.01 et seq.].\n\n(9)\nThe term “Mayor” means the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia established pursuant to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act [§ 1-202.01 et seq.].\n\n(9A)\nThe term “Attorney General” or “Attorney General for the District of Columbia” means the Attorney General for the District of Columbia provided for by part D-i of subchapter I of Chapter 3 [§ 1-301.81 et seq.] and § 1-204.35.\n\n(10)\nThe term “initiative” means the process by which the electors of the District of Columbia may propose laws (except laws appropriating funds) and present such proposed laws directly to the registered qualified electors of the District of Columbia for their approval or disapproval.\n\n(11)\nThe term “referendum” means the process by which the registered qualified electors of the District of Columbia may suspend acts, or some part or parts of acts, of the Council of the District of Columbia (except emergency acts, acts levying taxes, or acts appropriating funds for the general operating budget) until such acts or part or parts of acts have been presented to the registered qualified electors of the District of Columbia for their approval or rejection.\n\n(12)\nThe term “recall” means the process by which the registered qualified electors of the District of Columbia may call for the holding of an election to remove or retain an elected official of the District of Columbia (except the Delegate to Congress for the District of Columbia) prior to the expiration of the elected official's term.\n\n(13)\nThe term “elected official” means the Mayor, the Chairman and members of the Council, the Attorney General, members of the State Board of Education, the Delegate to Congress for the District of Columbia, United States Senator and Representative, and advisory neighborhood commissioners of the District of Columbia.\n\n(14)\nThe term “printed” shall include any document produced by letterpress, offset press, photo reproduction, multilith, or other mass reproduction means.\n\n(15)\nThe term “proposer” means one or more of the registered qualified electors of the District of Columbia, including any entity, the primary purpose of which is the success or defeat of a political party or principle, or any question submitted to vote at a public election by means of an initiative, referendum or recall as authorized in amendments numbered 1 and 2 to Title IV of the Home Rule Act (§§ 1-204.101 to 1-204.115). Such entities shall be treated as a political committee as defined in § 1-1161.01(44) for purposes of this subchapter.\n\n(16)\n(A)\nThe term “residence,” for purposes of voting, means the principal or primary home or place of abode of a person. Principal or primary home or place of abode is that home or place in which the person’s habitation is fixed and to which a person, whenever a person is absent, has the present intention of returning after a departure or absence therefrom, regardless of the duration of the absence.\n(B)\nIn determining what is a principal or primary place of abode of a person the following circumstances relating to the person may be taken into account:\n(i)\nBusiness pursuits;\n(ii)\nEmployment;\n(iii)\nIncome sources;\n(iv)\nResidence for income or other tax purposes;\n(v)\nResidence of parents, spouse, and children;\n(vi)\nLeaseholds;\n(vii)\nSitus of personal and real property; and\n(viii)\nMotor vehicle registration.\n(C)\nA qualified elector who has left the qualified elector's home and gone into another state or territory for a temporary purpose only shall not be considered to have lost the qualified elector's residence in the District.\n(D)\nIf a qualified elector moves to another state or territory with the intention of making it the qualified elector's home, the qualified elector shall notify the Board, in writing, and shall be considered to have lost residence in the District.\n(E)\nNo person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of absence while employed in the service of the District or the United States governments, while a student at any institution of learning, while kept at any institution at public expense, or while absent from the District with the intent to have the District remain the person's residence. If a person is absent from the District, but intends to maintain residence in the District for voting purposes, the person shall not register to vote in any other state or territory during his or her absence.\n\n(17)\nThe term “voter registration agency” means an office designated under § 1-1001.07(d)(1) and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to perform voter registration activities.\n\n(18)\nThe term “application distribution agency” means an agency designated under § 1-1001.07(d)(14) in whose office or offices mail voter registration applications are made available for general distribution to the public.\n\n(19)\nThe term “duly registered voter” means a registered voter who resides at the address listed on the Board’s records.\n\n(20)\nThe term “registered qualified elector” means a registered voter who resides at the address listed on the Board’s records.\n\n(21)\nThe term “qualified registered elector” means a registered voter who resides at the address listed on the Board’s records.\n\n(22)\nThe term “voting system” means:\n(A)\nThe combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment, including the software, firmware, and documentation required to program, control, and support the equipment used to:\n(i)\nDefine ballots;\n(ii)\nCast and count votes;\n(iii)\nReport or display elections results; and\n(iv)\nMaintain and produce a permanent record; and\n(B)\nThe practices and documentation used to:\n(i)\nIdentify system components and versions of components;\n(ii)\nTest the system during its development and maintenance;\n(iii)\nMaintain records of system errors and defects;\n(iv)\nDetermine necessary system changes after the initial qualification of the system; and\n(v)\nProvide voters with notices, instructions, forms, paper ballots, or other materials.\n\n(23)\nThe term “Help America Vote Act of 2002” means the Help America Vote Act of 2002, approved October 29, 2002 (116 Stat. 1666; 42 U.S.C. § 15301 et seq.).\n\n(24)\nThe term “gender identity or expression” shall have the same meaning as provided in § 2-1401.02(12A).\n\n(25)\nThe term \"election observers” means persons who witness the administration of elections, including individuals representing nonpartisan domestic and international organizations, including voting rights organizations, civil rights organizations, and civic organizations.\n\n(26)\nThe term \"qualified petition circulator\" means a person who is at least 17 years of age and who will be 18 years of age on or before the next general election and either:\n(A)\nA District resident; or\n(B)\nA resident of another jurisdiction who has registered with the Board as a petition circulator and consented to being subject to the subpoena power of the Board and the jurisdiction of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for the enforcement of subpoenas without respect to the individual’s place of residence.\n\n(27)\nThe term \"digital voter service system\" means a website or mobile application that allows an individual to do the following:\n(A)\nApply to become a registered voter;\n(B)\nChange the individual's name, address, or party affiliation in the individual's existing voter registration record; and\n(C)\nRequest a mail-in ballot.\n\n(28)\nThe term \"DMV\" means the Department of Motor Vehicles.\n\n(29)\nThe term \"mobile application\" means specialized software, designed for a mobile device, in which electronic signatures are collected on an electronic petition.\n\n(30)\nThe term \"mobile device\" means a handheld, portable, wireless computing device, including a tablet computer or mobile phone.\n\n(31)\nThe term \"polling place\" shall have the same meaning as the term \"Vote Center\".\n\n(32)\nThe term \"DOC\" means the Department of Corrections.\n\n(33)\nThe term \"automatic voter registration agency\" means an agency designated under § 1-1001.07(c)(1) to automatically register qualified electors to vote.\n\n(34)\nThe term \"local election\" means:\n(A)\nAn election for:\n(i)\nMayor;\n(ii)\nChairman or member of the Council;\n(iii)\nAttorney General;\n(iv)\nMember of the State Board of Education; or\n(v)\nAdvisory Neighborhood Commissioner; or\n(B)\nAn initiative, referendum, recall, or charter amendment measure on a District ballot.\n\n(35)\nThe term \"ballot drop box\" means a secured container in which a registered qualified elector may deposit a completed ballot.\n\n(36)\nThe term \"mail-in ballot\" means:\n(A)\nA physical ballot received by a registered qualified elector via mail; or\n(B)\nAn alternate format ballot, such as a web-based ballot, that is accessible to registered qualified electors with disabilities and absent uniformed services and overseas voters.\n\n(37)\nThe term \"Vote Center\" means a centralized polling place at which registered qualified electors may vote, regardless of their address within the District; except, that only registered qualified electors in the care and custody of the Department of Corrections may vote at Vote Centers located in Department of Corrections facilities.\n\n(38)\n\"Active candidate\" means a candidate who has not been defeated or elected and has not withdrawn their candidacy prior to election day pursuant to applicable law.\n\n(39)\n\"Highest-ranked active candidate\" means the active candidate assigned a higher ranking than any other active candidates.\n\n(40)\n\"Inactive ballot\" means a ballot on which no active candidate is ranked, contains an overvote at the highest ranking of active candidates, or contains 2 or more sequential skipped rankings before its highest-ranked active candidate.\n\n(41)\n\"Overvote\" means an instance in which a voter has ranked more than one candidate at the same ranking.\n\n(42)\n\"Ranked choice voting\" means a method of casting and tabulating votes whereby the voters rank candidates according to the order of their choice, and vote counting proceeds in rounds in which candidates are eliminated or elected.\n\n(43)\n\"Rank\" means to assign a number to each candidate for an office corresponding to the voter's preference for that candidate relative to the other active candidates for that office, with the number \"1\" denoting the highest preference, followed by \"2\" and then \"3\" and then \"4\" and then \"5.\"\n\n(44)\n\"Ranking\" means the number assigned by a voter to a candidate to express the voter's choice for that candidate, with the number \"1\" denoting the highest ranking, followed by \"2\" and then \"3\" and then \"4\" and then \"5\".\n\n(45)\n\"Round\" means an instance of the sequence of voting tabulation beginning with § 1-1001.08a(d) for any single-winner contest, § 1-1001.08a(e) for any general election for members of the Council at-large, and § 1-1001.08a(f) for any applicable presidential preference primary election.\n\n(46)\n\"Skipped ranking\" means an instance of a voter leaving a ranking unassigned and ranking a candidate at a subsequent ranking.\n\n(47)\n\"Threshold for receiving delegates\" means the percentage of votes necessary for a candidate to receive delegates in a presidential preference primary election conducted under § 1-1001.08a(f).\n\n(48)\n\"Undervote\" means a ballot that does not contain any candidates at any ranking in a particular contest.","path":["Title 1. Government Organization.","Chapter 10. Elections.","Subchapter I. Regulation of Elections."],"source_url":"https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/1-1001.02","current_through":"2026-08-20 (D.C. Law 26-175)","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-29T05:44:07Z","sha256":"1f8dd130c7fa33d4ddc32e403e97eb8b07f57db1d84225c8e374ef4cf03fd27f","source_id":"us-dc","stale":false,"prev":"us-dc/d.c.-code-1-1001.01","next":"us-dc/d.c.-code-1-1001.03"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}