D.C. Residents, Officials Hold Town Hall Meeting to Begin Push for Voting Rights
Feature Story by Rob Randhava - 3/11/2003
In a Washington, D.C. town hall meeting, elected officials and civil rights advocates joined together to speak out regarding what Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Executive Director Wade Henderson described as "one of the most fundamental civil and human rights issues of the 21st Century": the lack of full voting rights for residents of the nation’s capital. A crowd of several hundred people assembled at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library to hear from a panel including D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, Wade Henderson, D.C. Vote Executive Director Ilir Zherka and Stand up for Democracy President Anise Jenkins.Rep. Norton organized the town hall meeting to address an issue that the panelists and audience alike have long viewed as an outrage: D.C.’s lack of meaningful representation in Congress and the resulting inability of D.C. residents to control the destiny of the city. D.C. residents are the only Americans who must pay federal taxes without being provided with voting representation in Congress. Rep. Norton, D.C.’s only voice in Congress, is technically a delegate rather than a full Member of Congress, and cannot vote on legislation.
As an example, Rep. Norton pointed out that she was unable to cast a vote, on behalf of D.C. residents, on a resolution that authorized the U.S. to take military action against Iraq, even though, she said, a disproportionate number of D.C. residents serve in the armed forces that have recently been sent to the Persian Gulf. D.C. residents’ power is also limited with regard to their own affairs, as Congress is empowered to approve or deny legislation passed by the city government, and has at times actively blocked laws even when approved by voters.
Wade Henderson added a more recent example of how D.C. residents have been shut out by Congress, referring to the ongoing debate over seating Miguel Estrada on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit: "We have no voice in the U.S. Senate in the debate over who is qualified to sit on the D.C. Circuit," explained Henderson.
Henderson promised that LCCR would make establishing democracy for D.C. residents a high priority within the national civil rights community, pointing out that LCCR had worked hard in the previous Congress to push for passage of the "No Taxation Without Representation Act," a bill sponsored by Rep. Norton and Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., to provide D.C. with congressional representation. That bill cleared a Senate committee on a 9-0 vote, but did not make it into law and will instead be reintroduced this year.
Following Henderson, panelist Ilir Zherka outlined steps that DC Vote and other advocates plan in the push for D.C. voting rights. One step, Zherka explained, would be to "dramatize the situation" to a largely unaware public through events such as an April 15 "tax day" rally in downtown Washington, D.C. Zherka also discussed advocacy approaches, including a plan for individuals to "Adopt a Member" of Congress whom they would lobby for voting rights on behalf of D.C. residents. "Change is not going to come from Congress," Zherka explained, "unless we demand it, and demand it often."
