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District voting rights advocates lobby on the Hill
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D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty meets with Republican Minority Whip Roy Blunt in his office in the Capitol to talk about the cities voting rights in Washington on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Hundreds of advocates for D.C. voting rights Thursday took to Capitol Hill to lobby Congress for a vote in the House of Representatives.
Congress Day 2007, organized by DC Vote, kicked off with a rally at the Cannon House Office Building and ended with a meeting between Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Adrian Fenty, D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In between, activists visited congressional offices to lobby for the D.C. Fair and Equal Voting Rights Act, which would expand the House by two seats, with one going to the District and the other to Utah.
Hundreds of people, including members of the D.C. Council and students from area universities, visited more than 200 offices, passing along information about the legislation to congressional staff. Aides are critical to the lobbying effort, DC Vote Executive Director Ilir Zherka said, because it’s the staff who write the memos and decide what’s on the agenda.
Following their meeting, Norton said Pelosi was committed to bringing the bipartisan bill, which opponents consider unconstitutional, to the floor for a vote. Fenty, through a spokeswoman, described the meeting as “very positive,” though the speaker said the bill needs minor tweaks and did not commit to a date for a floor debate.
“The speaker strongly supports D.C. voting rights and the continuing efforts by the Democratic leadership, Congresswoman Norton, Chairmen [John] Conyers and [Henry] Waxman to finalize the language of [the legislation],” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said in an e-mail. “The speaker hopes to have a floor vote on this historic issue as soon as possible.”
Fenty and DC Vote have planned an April 16 march on Capitol Hill to coincide with the District’s Emancipation Day.
Comments from Examiner Readers
2:16 PM MST on Sun., Jul. 6, 2008 re: "Vote tallying could present another fiasco"
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11:55 AM MST on Wed., Jun. 6, 2007
re: "Virginia primaries open to all voters, regardless of party"
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2:07 PM MST on Fri., Apr. 20, 2007
re: "House passes District voting rights bill"
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Jiminy Cricket said:
What a wicked we weave !!!- The Supes were warned not to buy these bogus systems - but except for Ammiano and Daly, they did it anyway .. The shame !! Now SF is the biggest fool as they too are in the HAVA trap - Bob Ney paved the way for the big $ vendors to skim the cream - billions of our tax dollars sent to the boys in the back. We must make a stand against the black hats and take back our democracy- He who counts the votes must not be allowed to skate away- JC
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Steve Rankin, Jackson, Mississippi said:
The Virginia Republicans' lawsuit against their open-primary law is now in the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. It's based largely on the US Supreme Court's 2000 ruling in the California case that you noted. The lower court held in the Virginia case that, when a party is forced to nominate by primary, the party decides who votes in that primary. This was the first time any court had ever said that there is a situation in which the state may not require a party to hold an open primary. The Mississippi Democrats' similar open-primary lawsuit will be heard by the US District Court on July 30. If the courts outlaw state-mandated open primaries-- as I believe they will-- each party will be free to determine who votes in its primaries. Utah, e.g., registers voters by party. The Republicans there invite independents to vote in their primaries, whereas the Democrats invite ALL voters into their primaries.
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Zeadman said:
mmmmmmmmmm interesting. i am a republican populist moderate. i think that most people in the us are now that. any way i believe that the district should be treated as any other district in any state in the Union. it is a district just like the first district of Utah. or Iowa or Idaho...... so yes it is good that they now have a vote even thow they have always had a vote because of what they are. they are a district out side of a state. thats is all they deserve a vote just like us. thanks -Zeadman
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