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Residents of Washington, DC’Äîour nation’Äôs capital’Äîdo
not get the same opportunity to vote for people to represent them in
Congress as the rest of U.S. residents. Back in 1790, when the
District of Columbia was created by combining land from Maryland and
Virginia, residents of the new district were allowed to continue
voting for Congressional representation in their former states. In
1800, however, when Congress voted to take complete control of the
District of Columbia, representation in Congress for DC residents
ended. District of Columbia citizens have no representation in the
US Senate and only symbolic representation in the US House of
Representatives’Äîone, nonvoting delegate.
Pursuant to the so-called ’ÄúDistrict Clause’Äù of the
United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 17),
Congress has the power ’Äúto exercise exclusive legislation in all
cases whatsoever’Äù over the District of Columbia. Thus, whereas the
fifty states have state legislatures, the District of Columbia has
only Congress, which acts as the District’Äôs ’Äústate’Äù legislature;
and, ironically (and some would say tragically) District residents
have zero influence on the process of choosing the individuals who
comprise this legislature. The District of Columbia does have a
locally-elected mayor and city council; but all locally-passed laws
must be sent to Congress for review. Congress has the absolute right
to overrule decisions of the locally-elected government as well as
citizen-passed ballot initiatives.
So the half-million citizens of the District
of Columbia, like citizens of the fifty states, bear all of the
obligations of American citizenship: they are required to obey the
laws passed by Congress; they pay federal taxes; they serve in the
military; and they fight and die in our wars. Yet they lack the most
basic right that should accompany American citizenship’Äîthe right to
full voting representation in Congress. This makes the United States
the only nation in the world with a representative, democratic
constitution that denies citizens of its capital representation in
the national legislature. In fact, no fewer than 183 nations provide
their citizens the type of representation citizens of Washington, DC
are denied.
Over the years, many individuals and groups have
attempted to secure voting representation for District of Columbia
residents. Not everybody agrees on the best possible means to this
end. A few possibilities different groups support include: (1)
Direct congressional legislation. Congress treats D.C. as a state
for hundreds of purposes. Congress could pass a law providing D.C.
with two U.S. Senate seats and the appropriate number of U.S. House
seats based on its population. (2) Amend the U.S. Constitution to
provide for full congressional representation. Congress passed
constitutional amendment legislation to grant D.C. residents full
congressional representation in 1978, but the amendment failed to be
ratified by the required 38 states. (3) Make the District of
Columbia the 51st state. Congress has the authority to admit new
states into the union under Article IV, Section 3 of the
Constitution. If D.C. were a state, it would be entitled to two
Senators and at least one seat in the U.S. House.
Listed below are some of the organizations that work
on the DC voting rights issue:
DC Vote
Committee for the Capital
City
Let's
Free D.C.
D.C. Voting
Rights
D.C. Democracy Fund
D.C. Representation Alliance for Ballot Box and
Legislative Equality (DC Rabble)
Stand Up for
Democracy
D.C. Statehood Green Party
D.C. Citizens for
Democracy
National
Association to Restore Pride in America's
Capital (NARPAC)
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