On November 3, 1964, Washington, D.C., residents voted in a presidential election for the first time since 1800. The 23rd Amendment was passed in 1961 and gave District of Columbia citizens, a majority of whom were African American, the right to cast their ballots. As History.com notes, “They went on to help Democrat Lyndon Johnson defeat Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964, the next presidential election.”
A Washington, D.C., resident casts her ballot in the 1964 presidential election. Source: Rice University, Kinder Institute for Urban Research
According to DCist,
The idea of the amendment dated back long before it was finally passed. In 1949, Sen. Matthew Neely (D-WV) introduced a version of the amendment. In 1951, Sen. Francis Case (R-SD) did the same. The local campaign for the vote started in earnest in 1956, when a Board of Trade committee advocated that civic groups come together to lobby Congress for the right. The amendment was formally proposed by Congress in June 1960, and ratified by the last necessary states on March 29, 1961. (Hawaii was first, Ohio and Kansas last.)
Arkansas rejected the amendment, while Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina and Virginia have never got around to making a decision.
History.com further states,
In 1970, Congress gave Washington, D.C., one non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives and with the passage of 1973’s Home Rule Act, Washingtonians got their first elected mayor and city council. In 1978, a proposed amendment would have given D.C. the right to select electors, representatives and senators, just like a state, but it failed to pass, as have subsequent calls for D.C. statehood.
Additional Resources
I Vote Because My Father and Grandfather Couldn’t by Roland B. Smith Jr. (Rice University)
On This Day in 1964, D.C. Residents Cast First Presidential Ballots Since 1800 by Martin Austermuhle (DCist)
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