The Twenty-Third Amendment – Houston Public Media

The Constitution has guaranteed our freedoms and rights for over 200 years. In this regular series, Dean Leonard Baynes with the University of Houston Law Center looks at the Amendments and how they relate to society today.

“The modern era continued to expand voting rights with the enactment of the Twenty-Third Amendment in 1961, giving the residents of the Washington, D.C. the right to vote in presidential elections.”

“Washington, D.C., is a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. It is not a U.S. state or part of any state.”

Prior to this amendment, residents living in the nation’s capital could not vote for president or vice president. The city residents participated in their first presidential election in 1964.

“Although the Twenty-third Amendment allowed D.C. residents to vote in presidential elections, it did not give D.C. statehood. As such, even though D.C. has over 700,000 residents more than many states and has a local budget of over $15 billion, the residents of D.C. have no voting members of Congress and no U.S. senators.”

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