A subcommittee in the Democratic National Committee recommended on Monday to invalidate a February vice chair election, asserting that it gave an unfair advantage to male candidates David Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta, NBC News reported.
The challenge was raised by Oklahoma Democratic Committeewoman Kalyn Free. She argued that the DNC's decision to combine a vote on the final two vice chair slots meant that members of the committee must vote for at least one man to meet gender balance rules, giving male candidates such as Hogg and Kenyatta an unfair advantage.
Free asserted that holding a separate vote for the remaining chair slots would have allowed voters to potentially elect a woman such as herself.
According to NBC News, DNC rules "require that the national party's executive committee 'shall be as equally divided as practicable' along gender lines. (If the committee includes members who identify as non-binary, they don't count for the purposes of gender division.)"
Counsel for Hogg and Kenyatta rejected Free's position, arguing that the party had already reached a decision on how to vote to save time.