Barbara Lett-Simmons is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 politician.

A Democratic elector from the District of Columbia in the 2000 U.S. Election, she abstained from voting in the Electoral College rather than vote for Al Gore

Al Gore

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

 as was expected, in protest of the District's lack of a voting representative in Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

. Although D.C. does have a non-voting delegate to Congress

Delegate (United States Congress)

A delegate to Congress is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives who is elected from a U.S. territory and from Washington, D.C. to a two-year term. While unable to vote in the full House, a non-voting delegate may vote in a House committee of which the delegate is a member...

, Lett-Simmons's Electoral College abstention, the first since U.S. presidential election, 1864, was intended to protest what Lett-Simmons referred to as the federal district's "colonial status." (See faithless elector

Faithless elector

In United States presidential elections, a faithless elector is a member of the Electoral College who does not vote for the candidate they have pledged to vote for...

.)

Lett-Simmons is an alumna of Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....

, and the widow of Samuel J. Simmons, former Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Lett-Simmons served on the District of Columbia's Board of Education from 1974 to 1986. She was also a delegate to the 2000 Democratic National Convention

Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...

. More recently, Lett-Simmons helped lead a 2004 petition effort to recall

Recall election

A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...

 D.C. mayor Anthony A. Williams

Anthony A. Williams

Anthony Allen "Tony" Williams is an American politician who served as the fifth mayor of the District of Columbia for two terms, from 1999 to 2007. He had previously served as chief financial officer for the District, managing to balance the budget and achieve a surplus within two years of...

.