21st Amendment (1933): Details the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. Amendment XXIII. The proposed amendment was quickly ratified as part of the Constitution. The 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives the residents of the District of Columbia, or Washington, D.C., the right to vote for electors for the Vice President and President of the United States. Today, the capitals of 11 of the 24 federated systems essentially accord with the third or D.C. model of a federal district or territory; in every single one, save D.C., residents of the capital enjoy full political franchise and legislative representation. The amendment gives District of Columbia residents the ability to vote for the country’s president and vice president. Nevertheless, they are still entitled to one member of the House of Representatives, as provided by the Constitution in Article I, Section 2. The ratification of the amendment made the district the only entity other than the states to have any representation in the Electoral College. One not insignificant piece of evidence that the denial of full representation to District residents is not the natural state of things is that, after Virginia and Maryland ceded land to the federal government and the District’s boundaries were formally drawn in 1791, District residents continued to vote for members of the House representing Virginia and Maryland. [8][9][10], To become valid as part of the Constitution, the Twenty-third Amendment needed to be ratified by the legislatures of three-quarters of the states (38, following admission of Alaska and Hawaii to the union in 1959) within seven years from its submission to the states by Congress (June 16, 1967). The 23rd Amendment says folks can vote in Washington D.C. Over the years, most recently pursuant to the 1973 Home Rule Act, Congress has exercised that power to extend to the District a measure of autonomy, including the power to elect a Mayor and a Council. The United States, unlike medieval Europe, does not have city-states. No one State should be home to and legislate for and have power over the capital of all the States. For more information about each amendment, click on the links in the box at the right of this page. [19] The amendment failed to become part of the Constitution, however, as it was not ratified by the required number of states (38) prior to its August 22, 1985 ratification deadline. Peter Raven-Hansen, Congressional Representation for the District of Columbia: A Constitutional Analysis, 12 Harv. Since adoption of the Twenty-Third Amendment, U.S. citizens living and voting in the District of Columbia have had more weight in the Electoral College than their numbers warrant. Explore key historical documents that inspired the Framers of the Constitution and each amendment during the drafting process, the early drafts and major proposals behind each provision, and discover how the drafters deliberated, agreed and disagreed, on the path to compromise and the final text. The language of the final Seat of Government Clause that was adopted at the 1787 Constitutional Convention set out the parameters of the Nation’s Capital but intentionally did not set its location, so as not to offend New York or Philadelphia, which remained options. The United States Congress can pass a bill setting out a proposed amendment by a vote of two thirds in each body. More from the National Constitution Center, © Copyright 2021 National Constitution Center, Congressional Apportionment, 2010 Census Briefs, November 2011, Scholar Exchange: Amendment Review: 27 Amendments in 27 Minutes (All In Level), The 23rd Amendment and the chance of a tied 2020 presidential election, Amendment Review: 27 Amendments in 27 Minutes … Plus a Few More (High School/College Level). Washington, D.C. became the nation’s capital and […] Section Title Amendments; 0.0: Authority Citation: 47, 55: top: Subpart A - General 23.1 Applicability. J. on Legis. The Amendment allows American citizens residing in the District of Columbia to vote for presidential electors, who in turn vote in the Electoral College for President and Vice President. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment. [4], In 1888, a bill to amend the Constitution was introduced in Congress by Senator Henry Blair of New Hampshire to grant District of Columbia voting rights in presidential elections, but it did not proceed. Roughly, that ratio today applies as to the relevant populations of Washington and the area receded to Virginia.