Robert Mallett

After news emerged yesterday that its nominee to lead the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics may not meet residency requirements for the position, Mayor Vince Gray’s administration has said that it’s exploring seeking a waiver to the law.

During a press conference yesterday, Gray formally introduced three nominees for the three-person board. But only minutes into questioning by government watchdog Dorothy Brizill, it emerged that Robert Mallett, chosen to serve as the board’s chair, likely did not meet the three-year residency required by D.C. law for the post.

Gray administration officials told DCist that they might seek a waiver to the law; Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), who authored the law in question, told the Post’s Mike DeBonis that she would be inclined to grant it. But Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), who runs the Committee on Government Operations, seemed skeptical, telling the Washington Times, “The law is clear, it’s not ambiguous. Everyone is concerned about ethics, and for two straight months I’ve been saying the best thing that we can do about ethics is have a strong leader of the Board of Elections and Ethics.”

According to Mallett’s resume, he lived in the District for 17 years before moving to New York, where he resided from 2001 to 2010. His voting record reflects his time away from the District — first registered to vote in 1991, Mallett continually cast ballots in local elections until November 2001, after which he did not vote until the September 2010 primary, for which he cast a provisional ballot.

The residency requirement was written into an election reform law passed by the D.C. Council in 2009, but a city official confirmed that the three-year standard had been part of local law since at least 1981.