The Choice: The 23rd Amendment: Giving D.C. Residents the power to vote in presidential elections
D.C. residents still do not have voting representation in Congress.
Issue #962 The Choice, Friday, November 21, 2025
Every Friday until the end of 2025, we will publish a post about each of the 27 Amendments to the Constitution.
Nine cities have officially served as the U.S. capital: New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, and Washington, D.C. The capital was moved frequently during the nation’s early years until Washington, D.C. was established as the permanent capital in 1800, reflecting the belief that no state should host the nation’s capital.
By the time the 23rd Amendment was ratified in 1961, Washington, D.C. had grown into a vibrant metropolis with a population greater than several states. Yet the city’s unique status as a federal district, rather than a state, left its citizens without representation in Congress or a say in presidential elections.
The 23rd Amendment was crafted to address this disenfranchisement, acknowledging the importance of giving D.C. residents a voice.
Washington is a federal district rather than a state, and residents of the District of Columbia are thus not citizens of a state. As such, though residents of the U.S. capital pay federal taxes and are subject to the same military obligations as citizens in the states, they historically have been denied the privilege of electing federal public officials. Residents continue to be unrepresented in the U.S. Congress, though in 1970, Congress, which, per the U.S. Constitution, has exclusive jurisdiction over the federal district, established a nonvoting elected delegate to the House of Representatives.
Prior to the 23rd Amendment, D.C. residents were U.S. citizens with all the obligations of citizenship, but they could not vote in presidential elections. The amendment was passed by Congress on June 16, 1960, and ratified on March 29, 1961.
The 23rd Amendment allocates electoral votes to the District of Columbia, on the condition that D.C. receive no more than the least populous state, which currently grants D.C. three electoral votes. This number was determined by adding the two Senate seats and one House seat that the smallest state would receive.
This amendment allowed D.C. residents to vote in presidential elections starting in 1964.
However, the 23rd Amendment left several other issues unresolved. D.C. residents still lack voting representation in Congress, a point of contention and a continuing advocacy issue.
In 1978, Congress approved an amendment that would have repealed the Twenty-third Amendment and given District residents full rights. However, it failed to be ratified by the required number of states and was never adopted.
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