The Zoom City Council Meeting Is Here to Stay, Insults and All

When Washington, D.C., reenfranchised people serving time for felonies in 2020, Joel Castón, then at the D.C. Central Detention Facility, realized that not only could he now vote, he could also run for commissioner of his local Advisory Neighborhood Commission, one of about 40 of the hyperlocal governing bodies in the district. And if he could find a way to participate in ANC meetings from jail, he could serve out his term in office.

Luckily for him, Castón’s run—and subsequent win—took place in 2021, a year into a pandemic when most government bodies were already meeting online from home, wherever that was. “The online work has actually played in my advantage, not being able to physically put boots on the ground, due to my incarceration,” he said in a Zoom interview with Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this year. His tiny ANC district never had a commissioner represent it before, much less one who was jailed. (Castón, who was convicted of murder at age 18, was released on parole last month after 26 years of incarceration.)