What is District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment?
{{US Constitution article series}} The '''District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment''' was a [[wikt:propose|propose]]d [[amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]] that would have given the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]] full [[representation (politics)|representation]] in the [[United States Congress]], full representation in the [[Electoral college]] system, and full [[wikt:participation|participation]] in how the Constitution is amended. It was proposed by Congress on August 22, 1978. It was [[ratification|ratified]] by only 16 [[US state|states]] by the time it expired on August 22, 1985. It was 22 ratifications short of the needed 38 in order for the proposed amendment to have been adopted. ==Text== {{quote|'''Section 1'''<br> For purposes of representation in the Congress, election of the President and Vice President, and [[Article Five of the United States Constitution|article V of this Constitution]], the District constituting the seat of government of the United States shall be treated as though it were a State. '''Section 2'''<br> The exercise of the rights and powers conferred under this article shall be by the people of the District constituting the seat of government, and as shall be provided by the Congress. '''Section 3'''<br> The [[Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution|twenty-third article of amendment]] to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. '''Section 4'''<br> This article shall be inoperative, unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the [[legislature]]s of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.<ref name='AmendmentsNotRatified'>{{cite web|url=http://www.house.gov/house/Amendnotrat.shtml|title=Constitutional Amendments Not Ratified|access-date=September 30, 2007|publisher=United States House of Representatives}}</ref>}} ==Legislative history== Representative [[Don Edwards]] of [[California]] proposed House [[Joint resolution|Joint Resolution]] 554 i