District of Columbia is NOT a State

33rd Amendment puts DC voters into Maryland for Federal voting purposes

When the District of Columbia was originally formed in 1791 as a 10-mile by 10-mile square, about half of the land was cut out of Maryland and half was cut from Virginia.  The square of land was ceded by the two states and divided by the Potomac river, the original border between Virginia and Maryland.

Decades later (1846) Virginia took its portion back, which gave voting rights back to its residents.  The Federal government maintained control of the remaining part of DC, but until the 23rd Amendment voting rights were somewhat in limbo. Map of District of Columbia

In 1961 the 23rd Amendment gave DC voters 3 electoral college votes for Federal elections.  The population is estimated at 600,000 total, making it the second smallest state (if it were one) in the US, ahead of only Wyoming in population.  If DC population were part of Maryland for Federal elections, the state;s population would climb from 19th place to 17th place, gaining MD 1 Electoral College vote.  Tennessee would lose 1 Representative, and Missouri would remain unchanged.

Because DC was not a state but was part of one before, it should not be allowed to garner more weight in the Electoral College than it would have had as part of its original state.  Another troublesome matter is that the seat of any government tends to do things for itself that other cities or (in this case) states don’t do for themselves and can’t, like massive public works projects, unusually generous contracts, disproportionate generosity of all types.  Repeal the 23rd

DC should not get more than its fair share of Electoral voting power.  The 23rd Amendment needs to be repealed and those voters who would be disenfranchised by the repeal need to be added to the voters in Maryland.

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