President Obama's sudden support for a measure that would allow the District to spend its own money (and thus avoid future threats of a shutdown) is a big deal, but some D.C. voting rights advocates are stressing that his actions have to speak louder than his words. more ›

At a quick press conference yesterday before the D.C. Council's first legislative session of 2012, Mayor Vince Gray and most of the D.C. Council touted their upcoming trip to New Hampshire, where they will lobby the state legislature there to endorse District statehood. more ›

On this day in 1964, District voters cast their first presidential ballots since the city was established in 1800. more ›

We reported yesterday that Mayor Vince Gray was going to be missing tomorrow's rally for D.C. voting rights at the White House, leading some in the movement to grumble. Well, Gray seems to have changed his mind. more ›

On June 15, Mayor Vince Gray tweeted: "Would like to see President Obama fight actively for DC autonomy. Door to Wilson Building always open to him." The sentiment, which is loudly echoed by voting rights activists across the city, will be a central theme at a rally set for this Saturday in front of the White House. Gray, however, won't be there. more ›

During his recent campaign for an At-Large seat on the D.C. Council, Republican Patrick Mara often argued that advocates for D.C. voting rights and autonomy didn't do enough to engage congressional Republicans, opting instead to demonize them. Mara didn't win the race -- he came in a close second to Vincent Orange -- but he's recently been given a chance to put his pro-Republican voting rights pitches to the test. more ›

Eight District residents arrested in a number of recent protests for D.C. voting rights and autonomy are headed to trial, while nine others opted to pay a fine after appearing in a D.C. courtroom this morning for a preliminary hearing. more ›

About 25 D.C. voting rights advocates protested outside House Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) Capitol Hill basement apartment early this morning, angrily decrying his "hypocrisy" for siding with the Tea Party while introducing measures that would prohibit the District from using local funds for abortion and needle-exchange programs. more ›

Today on Capitol Hill, a number of D.C. voting rights activists protested a hearing on legislation that would ban the use of local D.C. taxpayer funds on abortions. The ban, which was lifted by Democrats in 2009, specifically applies to federal taxpayer funding of abortion, but also includes local D.C. funds because of the city's standing as something of a federal colony. more ›

You know, we're pretty bummed out about the District's lack of voting rights, but we'd never even think about comparing our situation to what's going on in Egypt, where people are dying, journalists are being arrested and demonstrations have drawn millions willing to drop everything for days in order to stand up for what they believe in, regardless of the danger. Of course, we don't have to make that comparison, because Ralph Nader has already made it for us. more ›

Instead of offering up a roundup of all things D.C. voting rights as we approach the end of the year (in short: we didn't get any), I'd like to credit the folks at D.C. Vote with a festive and holiday-themed way to get their point across. more ›

Sure, most of us are peeved that District residents still don't have voting rights. But at least you can win some money for finding creative ways to do something about it. more ›

It's a new day for D.C. voting rights. Oh wait, no it's not. more ›

If Rep. Travis Childers (D-MS) wants to interfere in the District's affairs, he should just go ahead and run for mayor. That's the message some voting rights activists will be sending the Mississippi Democrat this week. more ›

Anyone who is involved in the fight for D.C. voting rights is likely often frustrated. Now some activists are now taking those frustrations directly to their source. more ›

As a follow-up to our earlier post detailing some of the divisions that have emerged within the D.C. voting rights movement over the gun amendment, we just received a statement from D.C. for Democracy formally announcing that the organization is opposed to passing the legislation with the amendment attached. more ›

With plans to re-introduce legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House set for this Thursday, House Democratic Leaders, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and various D.C. voting rights advocates are facing increasing dissent from within over an amendment that would scrap the city's gun laws. more ›

It looks like President Barack Obama's silence on D.C. voting rights will continue. more ›

It's been somewhat quiet on the D.C. voting rights front in recent weeks, but that doesn't mean that the advocacy and education isn't marching along. more ›

If there's one thing that no member of Congress wants to be accused of, it's not supporting the troops. That very fear might be the only thing that finally gets the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives. more ›

When D.C. voting rights advocacy organization DC Vote launched its "I Am DC" ad campaign earlier this summer, it placed posters featuring the faces and stories of 10 D.C. residents (including our own Martin Austermuhle) on Metrobuses and other visible spots around the city. But recently we noticed that images of the posters available for download on the DC Vote web site now number only nine. Who was on that 10th poster? It was embattled Jim Graham chief of staff Ted Loza. more ›

When The Real World D.C. cast came to town a few months ago, we heard that they'd be doing what so many folks in the city do -- working for a number of non-profit and advocacy organizations. Noble as that is, we wouldn't have necessarily guessed it likely that they'd be working on any local causes. But it turns out, they did. more ›

Five Years On: On Wednesday we gathered to celebrate DCist's fifth anniversary, which caused me to reflect on how in those five years I've written countless posts and gotten into innumerable arguments with some in the commentariat -- all over D.C. voting rights. In the last five years -- which, in the grand scheme of 200 years of injustice is nothing -- the voting rights movement has had hope and seen defeat, but never really achieved any of its goals. This isn't to criticize the selfless and noble work of those who advocate on behalf of the District's enfranchisement more than it is to say that, well, we're still unrepresented in Congress. Yet the fight continues, and with each passing day comes a new reminder of the ways big and small that our particular injustice is rubbed in. Maybe it will take another five years before the plight of the District's residents is remedied. Maybe it'll take 50. Who knows. But as the city comes alive again after the August break, another cycle of hoping, organizing and advocating begins anew. Let's just hope that by the time DCist turns 10 or 15, I'm not still writing about how it sucks not to have voting rights. more ›

Jeez. For someone who prides himself on ranting about the District's lack of voting rights on a regular basis, I realized today that the last thing I had to say about the city's longstanding disenfranchisement was on June 10. On that day, we found out that Congress was laying to rest -- at least for the time being -- legislation that would grant the city a voting seat in the House. Since then, well, it's been radio silence from DCist HQ. (OK, so there was that one piece on June 24 about President Obama's license plate, but let's be honest -- that's not terribly substantial, now is it?) more ›

It's been a little disconcerting to ride my usual Metrobus routes for the last few weeks. I'm always happy to see my friend and fellow DCist editor Martin Austermuhle, but having his steely eyes staring down at me non-stop has been somewhat startling on occasion. "Oh hey, Mart-- oh god, it's that friggin' poster again!" Maybe you're having the same problem. The Reliable Source picked up a little item about Martin's participation in DC Vote's latest ad campaign today, so I was reminded to mention it. more ›

As we return from the Fourth of July weekend, many of us are still recovering from celebrating America's independence and a system of representative government that guarantees that each and every citizen can have a voice in the policies and decisions that affect their lives. But of course, no Independence Day is free from irony for District residents -- while one of the rallying cries of the movement for independence from Britain was a lack of representation (while being taxed, no less), the 600,000 or so of us in D.C. still live with that reality, some two centuries later. Somewhere, the Brits are smirking. more ›