BAYH PRODUCT
I will freely admit to engaging in some speculation right now so take this with a big grain of salt.
City officials say outgoing Councilor Patrice Abduallah’s votes were valid and there is case law to prove it. They haven’t cited the cases yet, but one they may to try cite a case involving U.S. Senator Evan Bayh. When Bayh ran for Governor in 1988 some citizens challenged his residency saying he was a D.C. resident and not one of Indiana. Bayh defeated the challenge as the courts fundamentally held that intent defines residency more than where you are.
Since then there has been more statutory clarification such as where you sleep, what’s on your driver’s license, the address in your checkbook, etc. The city may argue that even though Abduallah did not live in his district, his intent was to be there, therefore his votes were valid.
They may also try to argue that courts have been hesitant to negate votes of lawmakers who are found to be ineligible to hold an office because they were appointed or elected to another.
The problem with both those analysis is that by resigning his position, one could argue that Abduallah admitted he never should have been in the District. And if his intent was to stay he would have never stepped down.
This is all speculation on my part and we’ll know more later this afternoon.
Stick around.