Civilrights.org

The Senate recently introduced legislation aimed at ending "vote caging," a tactic typically used to deter minorities, young people, and seniors from voting.

"Vote caging" is a tactic in which a political organization or party sends mail, usually marked "do not forward," to registered voters, some of which are returned to sender. The organization will then challenge the validity of these voters' registrations, either before or on election day. 

However, many of these individuals are not fraudulent voters.  A person might be in the armed forces serving abroad, or letters may simply be returned due to misspelling of names or addresses.

The Caging Prohibition Act will prohibit the use of "caging lists" to interfere with voting or registering to vote.  Another provision in the bill will also prohibit using foreclosure status to challenge voters' registration.

The Senate is expected to vote as early as tomorrow on the DC House Voting Rights Act, which would provide Washington, D.C., residents with a full-voting member in the House of Representatives for the first time in our nation's history.

District residents have protested their lack of voting representation in Congress since 1801, the year Congress annexed the District of Columbia to create a federal district that would serve as the nation's capital. During the next 150 years, there were numerous unsuccessful attempts to pass legislation that would give voting rights to D.C. residents.

In the 1950s, President Eisenhower, a strong advocate of D.C. voting rights, called for D.C. suffrage during several of his State of the Union speeches. His efforts led to passage of the 23rd Amendment, which allowed D.C. residents to vote for president for the first time in 1964.

In recent years, several attempts to pass legislation to give D.C. a voting member in the House of Representatives have come up short, but the current bill has a good shot at passing both houses of Congress. President Obama is expected to sign the bill once it passes.

DC Vote recently launched a postcard campaign in support of the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009 (DC VRA), a bill that will give residents of Washington, D.C., a voting member in Congress.

Supporters of D.C. voting rights can fill out a form on the DC Vote website to send an electronic postcard directly to President Obama or they can print the postcard and send it by regular mail, urging him to support the DC VRA.  Obama supported a similar bill last year when he was a senator. 

Though district residents pay federal income tax and serve in the military, Washington, D.C., is the world's only national capital of a democracy whose residents do not have voting representation in the nation's legislative body. The district currently has a non-voting member in Congress.

The bill was passed by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee this morning, and supporters are hoping the full Senate will act swiftly to pass the bill.

Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a bill that will give residents of Washington, D.C., a voting member in Congress.

Though district residents pay federal income tax and serve in the military, the District of Columbia is the world's only national capital of a democracy whose residents do not have voting representation in the nation's legislative body.  Washington, D.C. currently has a non-voting member in Congress. 

The bill seeks to remedy this injustice by providing district residents with a voting member in the House of Representatives for the first time in the nation's history. 

"The continued disenfranchisement of D.C. residents before Congress continues to stand out as the most blatant violation of the most important civil right that Americans have: the right to vote.  Without it, without the ability to hold our leaders accountable, all of our other rights are illusory." said Wade Henderson, president of LCCR, in his testimony before the committee.

One of the first bills introduced this session will give the District of Columbia a voting member in the House of Representatives. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton currently represents the District in the House, participating in debate and committees, but her delegate status does not allow her to vote on bills.

The bill will increase the permanent House membership from 435 to 437 by giving one seat to the District of Columbia, and adding a fourth seat for Utah. This will be the first increase in 96 years.

Although previous attempts to pass a DC voting rights bill have not been successful, supporters are optimistic that the bill can pass in the new Congress.