Photo by Burnt Pixel.

On this day in 1964, District voters cast their first presidential ballots since the city was established in 1800. The ability to vote in the presidential contest was a product of the 23rd Amendment, which was passed in 1961 and gave the District the same number of electoral votes as the smallest state.

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.

In the 1964 presidential election, the District went more heavily for Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson than any state in the nation — 85 percent. The reason? Johnson pledged expanded Home Rule, which the District got in 1973.