D.C. Voting Rights Bill Gets Through Senate Test Vote    

posted 6:20 pm Tue February 24, 2009 - WASHINGTON from ABC 7 News - http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0209/597918.html

The Senate cleared a major obstacle to achieving a long-time District goal of full House of Representatives voting rights Tuesday morning when a test vote cleared the Senate, setting the bill on track for Congressional approval.

It is a key vote that could soon give District residents the full Congressional representation they have lobbied for.

"Whatever the obstacles are, after two centuries of fighting obstacles we are ready," said D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

The Senate will consider legislation giving the predominately Republican Utah an additional Congressional seat and largely Democratic D.C.'s House Representative a full seat with a full vote, something Congresswoman Norton has spent almost 20 years fighting for. "Here you have a bill with a vote for Utah, a vote for DC. The Republicans in the District, the Democrats in the District are for it. What's to be against?"

Just two years ago, there was plenty of opposition as similar legislation fell short of the needed support.

Some say giving the 600,000 District residents the vote isn't provided for in the Constitution because state representatives are for states only. "From my understanding, it clearly does say states," argued D.C. resident Dana Powell. 

Still others, many of whom don't even live in the District limits, say it's about time. Emily Brown of Virginia said, "It's hard to believe it's never happened before and they don't have a vote."

And North Carolinian Tony Swanger noted, "I'm not into politics that much, but we're all equal so everybody should have a vote."

Essentially, what today's vote will do is allow legislators to debate the merits of the D.C. voting rights bill. Eleanor Holmes Norton says it looks to have the support it needs to pass both the Senate and House and end up on the desk of President Obama, who was one of the co-sponsors of the resolution.