Photo by ekelly80.

The local branch of the Democratic Party isn’t known to many, nor has it attracted much positive attention in recent years. A recent move to change the longstanding practice of directly electing its party officials certainly won’t help.

The Post reported late last week that the D.C. Democratic State Committee recently let the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics know that it was replacing the direct election with a party caucus, a move that has angered some of its members.

The move away from direct elections has rankled a number of party activists, who believe the change benefits party insiders at the expense of the grassroots. But current party leaders say that they had no choice but to make the change, claiming the earlier elections would break party rules by coming amid the selection process for delegates to August’s national convention.

The party caucus will likely be held in November 2012.

The D.C. Democratic Party was criticized earlier this year for the way it selected a candidate to fill the seat once held by D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown until the April 26 Special Election could be held. In 2009, the party was found to be guilty of campaign finance violations related to fundraising for the 2008 Democratic convention in Denver.