American democracy for America's capital.In this 109th Congress, the League of Women Voters League of Women Voters, voluntary public service organization of U.S. citizens. Organized in 1920 in Chicago as an outgrowth of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, it had as its original nucleus the leaders of the latter organization. is working again with a coalition of national organizations to resolve a problem it has been working on for several decades. That problem is the denial of voting rights Voting rights The right to vote on matters that are put to a vote of security holders. For example the right to vote for directors. voting rights The type of voting and the amount of control held by the owners of a class of stock. in Congress to nearly 600,000 Americans living in America's capital, Washington, DC. The District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). is the only jurisdiction in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. where Americans pay federal taxes, fight and die for America in times of war and serve on federal juries. Yet, its residents have no voting representation in Congress--no vote in the U.S. Senate and no vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. They have no vote on health care, no vote on jobs, no vote on judges, no vote on the economy and no vote on security. The list is endless. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Denial of democracy to the District of Columbia affects American foreign policy. The United States of America UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The name of this country. The United States, now thirty-one in number, are Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, is violating international law when it denies DC residents equal voting rights in Congress. The leaders of other countries are using this fact as a bargaining chip, claiming that until the U.S. brings democracy to the residents of its capital, it can forget about preaching democracy to them. According to a January 2005 national poll, 82 percent of Americans from coast-to-coast believe that DC residents deserve full voting representation. Despite this support, Congress isn't solving the problem. This is not a partisan issue--overwhelming majorities of Democrats and Republicans support DC voting rights. For years, organizations like the LWV LWV abbr. League of Women Voters and DC Vote have fought to increase national awareness of the DC voting rights movement and advocated in Congress for immediate change. The fruits of that labor are beginning to pay off. On May 3, 2005, Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA) reintroduced the DC Fairness in Representation Act (DC FAIR Act, H.R. 2043) with bipartisan co-sponsorship and the support of the DC City Council and Mayor. Together with the No Taxation Without Representation Act (S. 195, H.R. 398), sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton Eleanor Holmes Norton (born June 13, 1937) is a member of the United States House of Representatives but is not a full voting member. She is a Delegate to Congress representing the District of Columbia, a position that carries more limited voting powers than full House members. (D-DC), there is growing bipartisan interest in addressing the lack of voting representation in Congress for District residents. The DC FAIR Act represents renewed momentum and a creative approach to addressing this issue. Democrat-leaning Washington, DC, would be given one voting representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. In exchange, a House member would also be added to historically Republican Utah, a state that narrowly lost an additional congressional seat after the 2000 U.S. Census. DC residents are counting on the members of the League and others around the country to contact their members of Congress and urge them to support DC voting rights legislation, stop this denial of American rights and finally bring American democracy to America's capital. Join us. Go to www.dcvote.org to get involved and learn more. VOTER LINKS * DC Vote/DC FAIR Act: www.dcvote.org/events/event.cfm?eventID=139 * DC Vote/No Taxation Without Representation Act: www.dcvote.org/events/event.cfm?eventID=120 * LWVUS LWVUS League of Women Voters of the United States : http://takeaction.lwv.org BY ILIR ILIR Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations ILIR In House Laboratory Independent Research ILIR Independent Laboratory In-house Research ILIR Independent Laboratory Innovative Research ILIR Intelligent Lithium Ion Recharge ZHERKA Executive Director of DC Vote |
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