Amendment XXIII

Amendment XXIII
“The District constituting the seat of government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:
A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a state, but in no event more than the least populous state; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the states, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a state; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.”

Section 1 says that Washington, D.C. gets representation in an election just like any other state would.
Section 2 says that Congress has to make laws that enforce this amendment.

This amendment clears up any confusion about how D.C. is represented in an election. It seems as if for the purposes of an election D.C. is treated as a state although it is not one. I think this was an easy way of figuring out what to do with D.C. during election time and still profit from them when it came down to taxation. I could never understand why D.C. could be its own state when it was treated like its own state. They had to pay taxes like they were a state and are represented like a state in elections, so why not? Then it was explained to me that D.C. doesn’t have a Senator because that’s where the President is based, so how can it be a state without a Senator? That makes sense, but I don’t understand why the President can’t trump that and still make D.C. a state and have a Senator who also lives in D.C. and answers to the Pres. After all, the President still has control over the country. I am in favor of D.C. becoming a state, because the President exists outside of D.C. and only lives there, so therefore shouldn’t have to be the Senator.

I chose this video because it displays the citizens who do not agree with the 23rd Amendment and feel that it should be repealed because citizens of DC are required to pay taxes as if they are a state and wants the full rights and benefits of a state. This video shows a protest in Washington for the repeal of the 23rd amendment.


This video is about a little girl who got a chance to meet President Obama at her school and asked the President if DC could have voting rights for representation in Congress. I thought that was interesting because I, myself wonder why DC can’t representation since they have taxation. The little girl said that she would picket if she could and I think that shows that she is educated and knows that she has rights within the Constitution to protest. At that age I wasn’t thinking about DC having voting rights. I think it is an issue within DC amongst the residents because they feel that 23rd Amendment prevents them from having the rights that the rest of the US citizens have.