Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution
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Amendment XXIII (the Twenty-third Amendment) of the United States Constitution permits the District of Columbia to choose Electors for President and Vice President. The amendment was proposed by Congress on June 17, 1960, and ratified by the states on March 29, 1961.
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Section 1
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.
Section 2
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
District of Columbia voting rights
The District of Columbia was originally envisioned as a center of government, not of population. Nevertheless, in 1960, the District had a greater population than each of thirteen states. The District, however, did not have the power to select members of the Electoral College in Presidential elections; the problem was addressed by the amendment. The District of Columbia may now choose, in such a manner as Congress directs, as many Electors as could a state of its population (each state chooses as many Electors as it has Senators and Representatives). The District, however, may not in any event choose more Electors than the least populous state. Since Wyoming, the least populous state (with a population of under 500,000 according to the 2000 Census), chooses only three Electors, the District of Columbia is currently limited to a maximum of three Electors. Currently, however, this limit plays no role since the population of the District would have entitled it to just three electoral votes anyway.
The amendment does not make the District of Columbia a state and does not grant it representation in the United States Congress. In 1978, Congress proposed an amendment that would have permitted the District of Columbia to choose Electors, Representatives and Senators just like a state. However, that amendment expired by its own terms in 1985, having failed to be ratified by the required three-quarters majority of the states.
References
- Constitution of the United States. (http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States_of_America)
- Kilman, Johnny and George Costello (Eds). (2000). The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation. (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/browse.html)
External links
- National Archives: 23rd Amendment (http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html#23)