On May 11, Congressman Thomas Davis (R-Virginia) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC’s Democratic Delegate to the US House) held a press conference to announce their co-sponsorship of a new bill. The bill, which doesn’t have a number yet, would give D.C. a voting member of the U.S. House. It would also give a new member to Utah (the state that was closest to deserving an additional seat after the 2000 census). It would also permanently enlarge the size of the U.S. House from 435 to 437 members. The new Utah seat would be at-large for the remainder of this decade.

The reason for giving Utah a new seat is that it is the only way to persuade Republicans to vote for the bill. Since it is considered virtually certain that the new D.C. seat would be a Democratic seat, giving Utah another seat balances the partisan change, since it is assumed the new at-large Utah seat would be Republican. The reason for making the new Utah seat at-large is that it avoids a messy fight in the Utah legislature over drawing new districts.

Congressman Davis had introduced a somewhat similar bill last year, but this bill is considered likely to pass, since it has the support of Eleanor Holmes Norton, whereas the first bill didn’t have her support.

On May 10, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed HR 9, which extends the life of the federal Voting Rights Act. As passed by the Committee, the bill merely keeps the Act in existence, but does not amend it. The Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965, has been extraordinarily effective in protecting the rights of racial and ethnic minorities to register to vote. It has also helped racial and ethnic minorities to win elections, by making redistricting more favorable. Unfortunately, though, the Voting Rights Act has never been interpreted to help voters who would like to vote for independent candidates and small political parties.

On May 9, West Virginia held primaries for the two major parties. Richie Robb lost his bid to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. House, 2nd district. He polled 30%, placing third in a 3-way race to oppose the Republican incumbent. Robb had been a Republican presidential elector candidate in 2004 (he had since switched parties). He had said, before the November 2004 election, that if elected to the Electoral College, that he would not vote for President Bush in the Electoral College. However, after he was elected to the Electoral College, he changed his mind and did vote for him.