It’s been a centuries-long struggle to end taxation without representation, and it’s a fight that Washington, D.C.’s residents are just a few votes shy of winning. DC Vote, an organization dedicated to securing full congressional representation for Washington, D.C., has launched an aggressive campaign to educate constituents in states where Senate members are filibustering the DC Voting Rights Act (S. 1257). Recently, our public awareness campaign brought us to Oregon where we met with a variety of community groups, students and media outlets to spread the message about DC voting rights and to garner constituent support for the current legislation.
The bill is merely an incremental step toward full representation for residents of our nation’s capital – allowing for one voting member in the House of Representatives. Yet on Sept. 18 of last year, a minority of Senators, including Gordon Smith (R-OR) chose to block an up or down vote on the bill – the first filibuster of voting rights legislation since the days of segregation.
Sen. Smith voted the Republican Party line, telling the Oregonian in a written statement that “the District of Columbia should find its congressional franchise through the state of Maryland, by statute, or through the Constitutional amendment process,” The former idea is clearly unconstitutional and the latter is simply unnecessary. Even conservative constitutional scholars agree that Congress has the authority to grant voting rights to DC citizens without a Constitutional amendment.
So then… why are nearly 600,000 residents denied the same representation their fellow Americans in the states enjoy? We at DC Vote think the answer is fairly simple: because people in the states who have a vote and a voice don’t know about the issue of DC’s lack of democracy. That means Congress gets to keep its dirty little secret about denying a vote to more than half a million, mostly African American, residents of our nation’s capital.
There is an upside to Americans’ lack of knowledge on the subject, though. DC Vote’s polling shows that once state residents learn about this injustice, they overwhelmingly support voting rights for the people living in the District. Our recent trips to Oregon and Montana to engage and mobilize voters showed that Americans believe in voting representation for all citizens and feel passionately that DC residents deserve a seat at the table of American democracy.
In many ways, the voices of constituents in the states can help DC achieve full voting representation. Indeed, it may be the only way. The residents of DC need the support of state residents if the injustice of denied democracy is to be corrected. Oregonians can help change the lives of more than half a million, tax-paying Americans who demand and deserve a vote.
Jaline Quinto
Communications Manager for DC Vote