Silverman Statement on D.C. rs % Boardof Elections Unanimously EliSSa Overturning “October Surprise” = * * * SSvEnMan Campaign Finance Office Ruling Board rules polling is an allowed expense, Silverman acted properly DECEMBER 12, 2022 In a unanimous decision, the D.C. Board of Elections this afternoon ruled in favor of Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At-large), overturning a controversial campaign finance ruling that was issued 12 days before the Nov. 8 general election. The Board determined that Silverman’s polling in Ward 3 during the 2022 primary election was an allowed Fair Elections expense under the District's campaign finance law. In announcing the 3-0 ruling, D.C. Board of Elections Chair Gary Thompson explained, “Elissa for DC provided three reasons for having conducted the polling of the Ward 3 race. Those reasons are uncontroverted in the record... It’s also important to me that the OCF found that there was no coordination with respect to communications that were made between Councilmember Silverman and the two candidates in the Ward 3 race.” The record is now clear: Silverman did not commit any campaign finance violation, and any prior finding to the contrary was erroneous.Silverman issued the following statement: “[ thank the D.C. Board of Elections for its thorough examination of the issue, for finding that | conducted my campaign appropriately, according to the law, and for reversing the Office of Campaign Finance's errant ruling. Unfortunately, the Board's unanimous decision today does not change the result of the election. | lost my re-election because of the flawed and rushed OCF decision, released 12 days before Election Day while voters were already casting ballots. This decision prejudiced voters and prominent opinion writers and commentators against me. The findings of the OCF ruling — now shown to be false — served as the basis for hundreds of thousands of dollars of outside spending on misleading attack ads which further influenced voters against me. This ruling has importance beyond me and this campaign: it makes clear that OCF should not be making hasty rulings this close to an election, with no opportunity to appeal on the merits before Election Day. | hope that the Board of Elections and the next D.C. Council will work to adopt policies, similar to the U.S. Department of Justice, to prevent announcements in the final stages of an election that could impact the results, without more oversight. The clear dangers of those kinds of announcements are evident today — they emboldened big-money interests to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in my race and cost me the election — even as today’s ruling finds that my campaign acted ethically and in accordance with the law.