| District Of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA VOTING RIGHTS AMENDMENT | |
| unratified amendments to the united states constitution | |
| history of the district of columbia | |
| voting rights amendment | |
| home rule and voting rights of the district of columbia | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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TEXT OF THE AMENDMENT The full text of the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment reads:
HISTORY IN CONGRESS The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was presented to the State Legislatures for consideration by the 95th Congress in the form of House Joint Resolution No. 554, offered by California Democrat Don Edwards . Representative Edwards' joint resolution was approved by the United States House Of Representatives on March 2 , 1978 , with a vote of 289 yeas, 127 nays and 18 "not voting" (124 ''Congressional Record'' 5272-5273). It was then approved by the United States Senate on August 22 , 1978 , with a vote of 67 yeas, 32 nays and 1 "not voting" (124 ''Congressional Record'' 27260). And with that, the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was offered to the State Legislatures for consideration, as prescribed by Article V of the Constitution. In accordance with the United States Supreme Court 's ruling in the 1921 case of '' Dillon V. Gloss '' (256 U.S. 368), Congress placed a seven-year deadline upon the measure's consideration by the state legislatures. Ultimately, the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment failed because it was not ratified by the legislatures of at least 38 U.S. States when the August 22 , 1985 , deadline—specified in the text of the proposed Amendment itself (fourth and final section)—had passed. EFFECT OF THE AMENDMENT HAD IT BEEN RATIFIED Had it succeeded, the amendment would have repealed the 23rd Amendment . That amendment does not allow the District of Columbia to have more electoral votes "than the least populous State" and doesn't give D.C. a role in an election of a President by the House of Representative (or that of Vice-President in the Senate). The amendment would have granted to the District Of Columbia the full voting rights of a state. Specifically, it would have given Washington, D.C. full representation in both Houses of the United States Congress in addition to full participation in the Electoral College . The proposed amendment would have also allowed the Washington D.C. City Council, the Congress, or the people of Washington D.C. (depending on how this proposed amendment would have been interpreted) to decide whether to ratify any proposed amendment to the Constitution on an equal footing as a State's legislature pursuant to Article V of the Constitution. OTHER ATTEMPTS TO ALTER THE POLITICAL STATUS OF THE NATION'S CAPITAL In 1980 , voters in the District of Columbia approved a call for a constitutional convention to be prepared for a new state, to be called New Columbia . The product of that convention—the statehood constitution—was adopted by the city's voters in 1982 . Provisions of the statehood constitution are still upheld in the electing of an unofficial "shadow" United States Senator to Lobby Congress on behalf of interests of importance to Washington, D.C. RESPONSE OF THE STATE LEGISLATURES Requiring the approvals of lawmakers in at least 38 of the 50 states, the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was ratified by the legislatures of only the following 16 states:
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