This post has been updated

A recall vote of a Ward 4 ANC commissioner yesterday ended without resolution, as enough absentee and special ballots had yet to be counted before pro-recall forces could claim victory.

According to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, the attempted recall of ANC4B04 commissioner Doug Smith yesterday garnered 75 votes in favor and 59 against—a 16-vote margin, more than enough to recall Smith from office. But that 16 absentee and eight special ballots were submitted means that Smith won’t officially know until March 9 whether or not he’ll lose his elected yet unpaid position in the Brightwood section of Ward 4. He’ll need to pick up at least 17 of those votes to remain in office.

Though only an ANC commissioner, Smith’s potential recall is somewhat noteworthy. If voters actually succeed in recalling him from office, it will be only the fifth time in the last two decades that such a move would have succeeded. Unlike recalling a citywide official, attempting a recall against an ANC commissioner isn’t hard—according to the elections board, recalls against ANC commissioners have been tried some 32 times since 1992.

So why recall Smith? Explains The Brightwoodian:

John Beverly, the president of Concerned Citizens of Brightwood East and the man who has spearheaded the effort to recall ANC4B04 commissioner Doug Smith, says that he initiated the effort due to Smith’s “lack of communication with residents” and “lack of involvement” in community issues. Smith serves as treasurer of ANC4B; he also created and co-chaired the Large Tract Review committee which examined Walmart’s development proposal for the Curtis Chevrolet site.

When asked for specifics, Beverly said that Smith left 4B04 residents in the dark about issues surrounding that development. I told Beverly that, as a 4B04 resident myself, I’ve attended quite a few meetings on that very topic. When asked if he had attended any of the meetings, he said he had not, because he didn’t know about them. He blamed Smith for not informing his constituents that the meetings were being planned.

If the recall succeeds, a vacancy will be declared and the ANC will schedule a special election.

UPDATE, 4 p.m.: The City Paper fleshes out one element that may have underpinned the recall: Smith wasn’t anti-Walmart enough, it seems.