Some interesting — yet disturbing — news this afternoon: Errol R. Arthur, the chair of the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, has resigned in order to take another job, according to the Washington Post.

Normally, this wouldn’t be such an issue; board members have full-time jobs, and so Arthur was well within his rights to resign. But his timing sure causes some problems. The Council and the Mayor have been deadlocked in the search for a replacement for former board member Lorrena Cole, who resigned from the board in February 2009 — so Arthur’s resignation means that if his replacement can not be found to in time (his resignation goes into effect August 2), the board will consist solely of Charles R. Lowery, Jr. And unless Lowery, Jr. can successfully argue that he’s actually two people, quorum isn’t happening.

Good thing there aren’t any important primaries coming up this fall that the Board will have to certify or anything, right?

Tim Craig reports that Councilmembers Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and David Catania (I-At-Large) are attempting to find a candidate who is acceptable to both the Mayor and the Council Chairman — hey, what a coincidence that those are the two people who will be most directly affected by the appointment! — but any agreement will still require the Council to return early from their recess to confirm the new member. We’re not even going to think about the worst-case scenario here; let’s just hope that Cheh and Catania can come up with something.