U.S. #2561 pictures the capital as it appeared in 1903.

Washington, D.C. Residents Vote in Their First Presidential Election

Though the District of Columbia has served as our nation’s capital since 1791, its residents didn’t get to vote in their first presidential election until November 3, 1964.

U.S. #3813 was produced after people protested D.C.’s omission from the Greetings from America set.

When Washington, D.C. was first founded, it was carved out of undeveloped swampland from Maryland and Virginia. Under the Constitution, only states can have electors in the Electoral College and vote in presidential elections. As it was not a state, the capital was put under the jurisdiction of Congress and its voting rights were terminated in 1801. With less than 30,000 residents at the time, many considered the capital too small to merit a seat in the House of Representatives.

Over the years, the district’s population grew and its residents desired to have a say in the elections. The first bill calling for Washington, D.C. voting rights was introduced in 1888, but it didn’t gain traction. After a similar bill was introduced (and also failed) in 1890, Washington Evening Star writer Theodore W. Noyes launched a campaign in support of D.C. voting rights. He wrote a number of articles about the topic for his newspaper and helped found the Citizens’ Joint Committee on National Representation for the District of Columbia. Though Noyes died in 1946, the committee continued to lobby Congress for their cause.

U.S. #4283 – Fittingly, the D.C. flag was inspired by George Washington’s family Coat of Arms.

The group became split in the years following Noyes’ death, with one faction calling for locally elected mayors and councils, and the other opposed. At the time, the capital had a fairly balanced Republican and Democratic population, so it managed to gain bipartisan support.

In 1959, New York Senator Kenneth Keating introduced a provision to an existing resolution calling for Washington, D.C. voting rights in national elections as well as non-voting delegates to the House. The proposal passed both the Senate and the House by June 1960 and was then turned over to the states. According to the Constitution, three-fourths of the states needed to ratify the bill within seven years for it to become an amendment. All the presidential candidates that year (John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon) endorsed the proposal. Supporters were recruited in almost every state to push for its ratification.

U.S. #1249 was issued to remind Americans that “voting is both a privilege and a responsibility.”

The bill was successfully ratified on March 29, 1961. The 23rd Amendment was created, granting Washington D.C. residents voting rights. It also allowed the capital to have as many electors as it would have as if it were a state, but no more than the number of the least populated state (Wyoming). Washington, D.C. was granted three votes in the Electoral College.

After more than 170 years of serving as our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. residents cast their first presidential votes on November 3, 1964. Their votes helped Lyndon Johnson defeat Barry Goldwater. In the years since the amendment was passed, the city’s population grew increasingly democratic and has voted for that party in every election.

In the 1970s, additional laws were passed giving the capital its first elected mayor and city council. There have also been calls for statehood and similar representation to states, but none of these have passed.

Click the images to add this history to your collection.

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9 Comments

  1. They could draw lines and have DC residents be allowed to vote in the Virginia or Maryland Senate elections. The city is beautiful. So many statues and memorials and the way it’s laid out. I’ve only been a couple of times, and should go back. First time I stayed in Maryland, second in Virginia. Thanks for the information…

  2. Other than the fact that Dwight D Eisenhower was not a presidental candidate that year, I find the article to be most informative. (DDE was presidentt in 1959 and 1960, having run and won in 1952 and 1956.) Thanks again for this great series.

  3. Your last sentence before “Click the images…” should read “…but none of these HAS passed.” None is the subject of that sentence, and none is a singular pronoun.

  4. If the voters of Washington, D.C. were allowed to vote in either Virginia or Maryland, those states would become reliably Democratic. The Republicans in Congress and in the two states would never allow that, even though the D.C. voters remain essentially disfranchised.

  5. It is important to realize to register to vote for it is a privledge and a responsibility. The history of the District of Columbia is very refreshing to know and appreciate of our Country. Thank you Mystic!

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