We're just a weekend away from the March for Voting Rights, which kicks off at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, April 16 at Freedom Plaza, ending at the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool at 4 p.m. for a rally. As we've mentioned before, you only have to take an hour off of work to join in the cause, and we'd encourage everyone to do so. We'll be there, and this is why:

We're Too Close To Stop Now: Were it not for a certain procedural roadblock desperately thrown in at the last minute, the legislation granting the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives would have passed. And while it surely would have faced a tougher test in the Senate and possible presidential veto, a House endorsement would be a substantial moral victory for the cause of District voting rights. It's time that we demand that victory. We may not fully agree with the approach the legislation's sponsors took (why not just push for statehood?), but incremental change is better than no change at all. And the legislation's constitutionality should be left to the courts -- not Congress.

District Residents Exist: Most opponents to District voting rights talk about our city as if it were an abstract, a swath of land empty of people other than those touristing the National Mall. It's not. Close to 600,000 residents call the District home, and their lives and rights as citizens should be looked at no differently than those of other Americans. Members of Congress need to know that District residents exist, have jobs, pay taxes, serve on juries and even fight in wars. It's much harder to justify not doing anything to enfranchise the District's residents when you realize that they're no different than anyone else.

The Cause is Right: Ultimately, the cause for District voting rights is one of principle, not politics. If members of Congress can ever justify invading other countries in the name of democracy, they can surely consider taking positive steps towards extending those same democratic rights to the residents that live in their nation's capital. Hiding behind the argument that the Founding Fathers somehow wanted District residents to be second class citizens is an excuse to leave things as they are -- and a debatable one at that. If one resident of any other state were ever denied a chance to exercise their democratic rights the way District residents regularly are, their respective member of Congress would spare no effort to correct that injustice. There's no reason the same efforts can't be extended for District residents.

They Don't Represent Us: If a representative from Wisconsin ever dared offer an opinion on how a certain town in New Jersey should run its affairs, they'd hear about it from that town's representative. But if all 535 members of Congress offered up a different plan for running the District's trash collection, well, that would be business as usual. For too long members of Congress have used their quasi-tyrannical hold on the District's affairs to nullify local referenda, propose using the city as a laboratory for quirky fiscal experiments, name city streets after Ronald Reagan, sell our parks to developers and tell us how we should and shouldn't spend our money. This has to change. Granting the District a voting seat in the House will be a first step towards eventually gaining budget autonomy and convincing members of Congress (including recent offender Rep. Louie Gohmert) that the only person that can rightfully represent us is the one we elect.

We hope to see you out there on Monday.