The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

This Sunday marks the anniversary of the ratification of the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment allows residents of Washington, D.C., to vote for presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Amendments to the Constitution are proposed by both houses in Congress and require three-fourths of the states to ratify, or approve, them. Ohio ratified the amendment on March 29, 1961, which made the amendment go into effect.

The 1964 election was the first election that district residents voted for president and vice president.

However, the 23rd Amendment did not grant district residents voting representation in Congress.  There have been numerous unsuccessful attempts to pass legislation that would give voting representation in Congress to district residents ever since it was created in 1801.

The D.C. Voting Rights Act, which will give the district a full-voting member in the House of Representatives for the first time, passed the Senate in February and is expected to come up for a vote in the House in the coming weeks.