Support S. 1257: Equal Voting Rights For DC & Utah Residents

Recipient: Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

June 12, 2007

Dear Senator:

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and undersigned individual organizations urge you to vote in support of S. 1257, the “District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act,” at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Business Meeting tomorrow, June 13, 2007.  Your support is critical to providing fair and equal House representation for citizens of Washington, DC and Utah.

Washington, DC residents pay federal income taxes, serve on juries, and die in wars to defend American democracy, but they do not have voting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives or the Senate.  As we work to promote democracy around the world, we can no longer ignore the need to extend democracy to Americans living in our nation’s capital as well.

Since 2001, Utah residents have also had their right to vote undermined.  Because thousands of state residents living abroad were not counted in the 2000 census, Utah was given only three Congressional districts instead of four.  As a result, the votes of Utah citizens have been diluted. 

Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) have introduced S. 1257 to address both injustices.  It provides Washington, DC residents with their own voting member of the House of Representatives, for the first time ever, and gives Utah an additional House district through 2010.  Because each party would likely gain one additional House seat under the bill, its political impact is neutral.

S. 1257 is well within Congress’ broad Constitutional powers to govern the District of Columbia.  And given the principles for which the American Revolution had been fought, we believe that our Founding Fathers would never, under any circumstance, accept the “taxation without representation” of over 500,000 Americans today.

Please help expand democracy to the residents of DC and Utah by strongly supporting   S. 1257 both in Committee and on the Senate floor.  Thank you for your consideration.  If you have any questions, please contact Rob Randhava, LCCR Counsel, at (202) 466-6058 regarding this or any issue important to LCCR.

Sincerely,

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

National Organizations
ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights
Alliance for Justice
American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
American Jewish Congress
Americans for Democratic Action, Inc.
Anti-Defamation League
Asian American Justice Center
Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote)
Asian Law Alliance
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
Common Cause
DC Vote
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
FairVote
Friends of the Earth
Global Rights
Human Rights Campaign
International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
Japanese American Citizens League
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Laborers’ International Union of North America
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
League of United Latin American Citizens
League of Women Voters of the United States
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association of Social Workers
National Coalition for Black Civic Participation
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
National Congress of Black Women, Inc
National Council of Churches
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Negro Women
National Council of La Raza
National Education Association
National Fair Housing Alliance
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Organization for Women
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Urban League
National Women’s Law Center
Organization of Chinese Americans
People For the American Way
PFLAG National (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
Presbyterian Church (USA), Washington Office
Pride At Work, AFL-CIO
The Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Public Citizen
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
United States Student Association (USSA)
United Steelworkers (USW)
USAction/ USAction Education Fund
The Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring

Local Organizations
All Souls! All Vote! of All Souls Church, Unitarian
The Business and Professional Women District of Columbia Federation
DC Chamber of Commerce
DC Federation of Business & Professional Women to the Coalition
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
DC For Democracy
The Federal City Council
The Greater Washington Urban League
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington
Latino Federation of Greater Washington
League of Women Voters of the National Capital Area
Metropolitan Washington Labor Council AFL-CIO
Reaching Out To Others Together (ROOTS)
River Road Unitarian Church
Washington Teachers Union
Washington DC Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People