On April 15, Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington, D.C., said she will ask the city council to put a ballot measure on the November 8, 2016 ballot, asking if D.C. voters want D.C. to become a state. See this story.
The referendum might be more interesting and useful if it also asked residents about the option of ceding most of D.C. back to Maryland. When Puerto Rico has had popular votes on its future political status, the voters were given several options.
I actually think the most likely place the become the 51st state is Guam. The pro-statehood movement has been growing considerably over the past few years. It lacks many of the problems which plague the Puerto Rican and District of Columbia statehood movements.
Is this issue likely to be placed on the ballot by the city council, or will it likely have to qualify for the ballot via petition?
1. Abolish the USA Senate and Electoral College.
2. Uniform definition of Elector-Voter in ALL of the USA.
3. P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
i.e. DC and colony folks would get the right to vote for Congress and Prez/VP.
If most of DC were retroceded back to Maryland, the 23rd amendment would have to be repealed. I know the idea is that only a small portion of the District used for Federal buildings would be under Federal control, but there would still be some population living in that area and they would get 3 electoral votes under the 23rd amendment.
Even if all the residential portions of the District were retroceded, there would probably still be some homeless people who sleep in the Federal area and thus would potentially be a population represented there.
This just goes to show you that people don’t know their history..DC was created, specifically NOT to be a state.,
It may not be that they don’t know the history — but rather that they believe it’s wrong . . . a modern-day case of taxation (etc., etc., etc.) without representation.
J.K. — what if the Congress hacks make it illegal to be homeless in Devil City — or allow only 3 hacks to be legally resident in D.C. [i.e. the 3 hacks for the 23rd Amdt) ???
@Joshua K. The 23rd Amendment does not provide for popular election or presidential elections from the District of Columbia. Instead it states:
“The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the
Congress may direct [3 electors]
Congress here is acting in analogous fashion to the the legislatures of the several states.
The legislation proposed by Dana Rohrbacher would have residents of the District vote in federal elections in the State of Maryland. This would give them senate representation, and all or the major portion of a House District. This would also give Maryland an additional presidential elector.
Congress could then either choose not to appoint any district electors, or base it on some other metric – perhaps Congress could choose the electors directly.
A better option would be to move the capital to a more central location, return the district to Maryland, and make the mall a national historical park.
@Andy,
Historically, it is the people of a prospective state who form a new government through a constitutional convention.
The D.C. city council is analogous to the territorial legislature, which is an agency of the federal government, which gives limited self-government to the residents.
The D.C. city council might facilitate organization of a constitutional convention, and organize elections of delegates, and a plebiscite on the proposed constitution. That procedure would like lead Congress to recognize the legitimacy of the process, and lead them to seriously consider the proposal.
@Jim Riley: Good point regarding Congress’s ability to direct the appointment of electors for D.C.
Nevertheless, I don’t see why the entire district couldn’t be retroceded to Maryland. After all, the Constitution allows Congress to govern a federal district to serve as the seat of government, but doesn’t require it. New York City and Philadelphia served as the U.S. capital before 1800 without the states of New York or Pennsylvania having to cede them to the federal government.