Party's Mistake Could Keep Sanders Off DC Primary Ballot

The DC Democratic Party was a day late filing his registration info
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 30, 2016 6:50 PM CDT
Party's Mistake Could Keep Sanders Off DC Primary Ballot
Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign stop Wednesday in Wisconsin.   (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

There's a chance Bernie Sanders' name doesn't appear on the ballot for the Washington, DC, primary thanks to some heel dragging from the DC Democratic Party, NBC Washington reports. The campaigns for both Sanders and Hillary Clinton submitted their $2,500 registration fee to the party on time. But the party didn't pass along their registration info to the DC Board of Elections until a day after the May 16 deadline. A voter filed a challenge against Sanders' late registration, throwing the senator's appearance on the ballot into question. No one challenged Clinton's late registration.

The DC Democratic Party calls the issue a "minor administrative dispute." A hearing on the challenge to Sanders' registration is expected next month. The situation could also be resolved by an emergency vote of the DC council. For its part, the Sanders campaign believes the matter will be cleared up in time for the June 14 primary. "We did what the DC law requires in order to get Bernie on the ballot, and we are confident he will be on the ballot," Politico quotes a Sanders spokesperson as saying. (More Bernie Sanders stories.)

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