Working to secure democracy for Washington, DC

Voice
A Proposal for DC Voting Representation
Its hard to make a straight-faced argument that the capital of the free world shouldnt have a vote in Congress, said U.S. Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) live on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on June 20, 2003. With this statement, Rep. Davis and numerous groups promoting DC voting rights began work to make sure that the legislation introduced would provide the District of Columbia with full voting representation in Congress. Davis initial idea would expand the membership of the U.S. House of Representatives by two seats to 437. One representative would be for the District and the other representative would go to Utah, which lost an additional seat in the last U.S. Census by several thousand people. Following the 2010 census using Davis initial idea, the House would return to 435 seats, but the District would retain its representative. His plan, as first reported, would have considered DC as a part of Maryland for purposes of representation in the House. However, in recent discussions with Davis' staff, DC Vote has been told that Davis is moving away from the Maryland approach. Davis plans on introducing his bill early in 2004. DC Vote welcomes Davis involvement in the movement to end DCs disenfranchisement. Davis involvement represents the possibility of a bi-partisan approach to DC voting rights, which is a critical component of success. However, DC Vote and other advocacy organizations maintain that whatever measure Congress enacts should include representation in the Senate, as well as the House. During a July 2003 meeting with Davis committee staff, Ilir Zherka, DC Votes Executive Director, joined with Walter Smith of the DC Appleseed Center and Lloyd Leonard of the League of Women Voters to discuss the proposal. Subsequent to the July meeting, DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton issued a statement which raised a host of questions about DCs relationship to Maryland under the Davis Proposal. Norton strongly suggested that Davis treat the District as if it were a state for voting purposes. This position is consistent with legislation she and U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) introducedthe No Taxation Without Representation Act of 2003 (S. 617 and H.R. 1285). DC Vote supports this legislation because it would leave the District intact, and it would provide full representation in the Senate, as well as the House. In our view, a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives is very important, but it is insufficient without representation in the U.S. Senate. Americans living in the nations capital must be equal to citizens living elsewhere in the country, and this can only be achieved with full congressional voting representation. DC Vote is actively engaged with all the relevant parties to ensure our opinion is heard. For more on this issue as it unfolds during the second session of the 108th Congress, visit DC Votes website at www.dcvote.org.
Ilir Zherka helps unveil designs for DCs new battle flag in June. He was joined by John Capozzi, Rep. Ray Browne, Dr. Marilyn Brown, Councilmember Phil Mendelson and William Rumsey from Linda Cropps office. In July, DC voting rights activists led by Jim Dougherty and Julie Eisenhardt biked in the Annual RAGBRAI Ride across Iowa. The 7-day trip was used to raise awareness about DCs disenfranchisement. Ilir Zherka helped launch their journey.

FALL 2003 www.dcvote.org

A Battle Flag for Our Struggle

DC Vote is interested in using unique opportunities to educate about DCs disenfranchisement. Adding Taxation Without Representation to the license plates was a great first step, and we are proud of our role in that effort. There are now over 130,000 of the plates driving around the region and the country raising awareness. But Taxation Without Representation is a simple statement of fact. The phrase No Taxation Without Representation is a statement of purpose. And by temporarily adding it to DCs flag, we will be raising awareness across the nation and letting people know that the residents of DC feel strongly enough about the injustice of being denied full congressional voting representation that we must join one of DCs most precious symbols in the struggle for our equality. Given a new purpose, DCs flag will expose Americas dirty little secret. People will start asking questions about DC, and legislators will need to start giving answers about the continued denial of equal voting representation to District residents. Imagine the earned media that such a bold and impassioned move would generate to raise national public awareness about our plight? Although 11th hour concerns have been raised by some members of the City Council over the flag commissions final designs, DC Vote will continue to work with the Council, the Mayor, Eleanor Holmes Norton and a coalition of supportive organizations and people to make sure that DC has a battle flag to raise in our struggle for equality.

This summer DC Vote gave a lesson on voting rights to kids in DCs Young Suffragists Camp. The camp is a program created by parents at Janney Elementary to teach kids about voting rights. Look for more in 2004!

This flag commission design is favored by DC Vote to become DCs temporary new flag. DCs flag will return to its original design once DC has full voting rights in Congress.

Voice
DC Votes Coalition Expands Nationally and Locally
DC Vote relies on the support of hundreds of volunteers and our coalition partners to pursue our missionfull congressional voting representation for the residents of the District of Columbia. We have been actively engaged with many of our existing partners for years on this issue. DC Vote is now working to re-engage and expand the Coalition for DC Representation in Congress, the group of advocacy organizations that we lead in raising awareness about DCs plight. Four well-established, educational and advocacy organizations Common Cause, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, and the League of Women Voters of the U.S.hold seats on DC Votes Board of Directors and have been important partners in our work since our founding in 1998. In January 2003, a number of other organizationsPeople For the American Way (PFAW), the ACLU of the National Capital Area, and the NAACPjoined our coalition. In 2003, an increasingly diverse group of organizationsboth locally and nationally focusedjoined DC Votes Coalition. These groups are extending our reach beyond the District and strengthening our grassroots movement. Over fifteen of our partners worked with us in the struggle for democracy by signing with DC Vote onto letters sent to Congress in the spring urging support for the No Taxation Without Representation Act of 2003 and requesting the repeal of the DC budget rider prohibiting DC from spending even locally-raised money to lobby for full voting representation in Congress. Increasingly, DC Vote will look to our Coalition partners, as we shift toward a national public awareness campaign, to help us advocate in Congress for passage of legislation that will bring full congressional voting representation to Americas capital. Coalition organizations were busy all year with projects of their own to promote democracy for DC.

FALL 2003 www.dcvote.org

Common Cause sent out an action e-mail alert to more than 200,000 of their supporters around the country asking them to advocate for the passage of the No Taxation Without Representation Act. The United Auto Workers (UAW) will include an article on the DC voting rights issue in their magazine that reaches over 1.3 million members nationwide. LCCR wrote a position paper supporting democracy for DC and has posted it on their website. Kappa Alpha Psi made DC voting representation part of their legislative platform when they lobbied Congress earlier this summer, and they passed a resolution officially supporting the movement. The Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington sent their own letter to the chairs and ranking members of the DC Appropriations Subcommittee asking that the lobbying rider be lifted. The Washington, DC Association of REALTORS(WDCAR) held a Tea Party at one of their national meetings to educate their colleagues from around the country about DCs plight. WDCAR and the Greater Washington Commercial Association of REALTORSalso sponsored the Champions of Democracy Awards and placed advertisements in their newsletters for DC Vote. The United Nations Association of the National Capital Area successfully gained support for the issue of DC voting representation from the national association. Requests were sent by the UNANCA nationwide to organization members urging them to get involved in the struggle by telling their own members of Congress to support DC voting representation. DC Appleseed is currently working in partnership with DC Vote to secure funding for a strategic planning process that will include national public opinion research and polling. The Greater Washington Urban League contacted fellow members in Rep. Frelinghuysens (R-NJ) home congressional district in New Jersey to ask for support with the DC budget rider advocacy campaign. As a result an important letter was sent to the Congressman letting him know that his constituents back home support equal rights for DC residents.

Coalition for DC Representation in Congress

Alliance for Justice Common Cause Council of Latino Agencies DC Action for Children (DC ACT) DC Appleseed Center D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute Foundry United Methodist Church Greater Washington Commercial Association of REALTORS (GWCAR) Greater Washington Urban League Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia League of Women Voters of the United States Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) NAACP, DC Chapter People For the American Way (PFAW) So Others Might Eat (SOME) United Auto Workers (UAW) United Nations Association of the National Capital Area USAction U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) Washington, DC Association of REALTORS (WDCAR) Whitman-Walker Clinic

Membership & Adopt-a-Member-of Congress Programs

In June 2003, DC Vote launched a membership program and in the few months that have passed, we have already added over 600 members to our ranks. DC Votes membership program is going to be the center of our grassroots educational and advocacy efforts. Residents of the states will be important key players in contacting their members of Congress to let them know that the denial of democracy and equal rights to DC residents can no longer be tolerated. For the disenfranchised residents of DC, we are creating an Adopt-a-Member-of-Congress program where DC residents will be assigned to contact key congressional leaders who have influence over legislation and decisions that affect the District. DC Vote members also play an important role in helping to provide much needed funding to our expanding programs. Visit DC Votes website and become a member today!

www.dcvote.org

Working to secure democracy for Washington, DC

Voice
DC Votes Champions of Democracy Awards 2003
DC Vote was proud to hold its Third Annual Champions of Democracy Awards Reception on Tuesday, October 14, 2003 at the City Museum of Washington, DC. The Awards Reception is DC Votes most significant way of honoring individuals and organizations that have shown a commitment and dedication to civil and human rights. Our honorees also show a deep dedication to bringing full democracy to Washington, DC. The Awards Reception is DC Votes most important annual fundraising event, and our generous supporters and friends made this years Awards Reception a great success. Honorees for DC Votes 2003 Champions of Democracy Awards included: the Honorable Walter E. Washington, the first appointed and elected mayor of Washington, DC, and the first African-American mayor of any major American city; Mr. & Mrs. Phil & Jan Fenty, heroes in the local community who have been lifelong supporters of equal rights for DC and longtime supporters of DC Vote; and Jack H. Olender, Esq., Washington philanthropist and major advocate for full congressional voting rights for the District of Columbia. With a theme of Celebrating Our CommunitiesUnited for Equal Rights, this years Awards Reception featured a Taste of the Community where local restaurants provided an array of delicacies and national beverage distributors provided drinks. DC Vote held its First Annual Silent Auction where individuals and businesses donated items or services to help DC Vote raise funds. DC Vote is grateful to all the volunteers, sponsors, underwriters and friends who helped make this years Awards Reception a memorable celebration of the movement.

Champions of Democracy 2003 Honorees and Presenters: DC Councilmember Adrian Fenty with his children, Honoree Jan Fenty, Daniel Solomon, Honoree Phil Fenty, Ilir Zherka and Emcee Kojo Nnamdi

DC Shadow Senator Florence Pendelton, and Civil Rights icons Hilda Mason and Rev. Jerry Moore enjoy the Awards Reception

DCs Young Suffragists sing Do You Have a Senator? to the attendees of the Awards Reception

Red Bull

In Memory of Walter E. Washington Patriarch of Washington, DC

Shortly following the Champions of Democracy Awards, Walter Washington passed away. DC Vote joins thousands of Washingtonians in mourning the loss of Mayor Washington and in remembering the wonderful work he did for our great city. His drive for excellence and his enthusiasm for making DC a great city will be profoundly missed.

Daniel Solomon, Champion of Democracy 2003 Jack H. Olender and Ilir Zherka

Voice
A Vote for Voting Rights Tuesday, January 13, 2004
DC Vote supports DCs first-in-the-nation 2004 presidential primary elections. While various pro-democracy organizations have their own ideas about what the change in date might accomplish, DC Vote believes that this is OUR opportunity to raise national public awareness about the disenfranchisement of nearly 600,000 residents of the nations capital. This is DCs chance to let Congress and the country know that DC will no longer sit at the back of the primary bus and watch democracy ride by. We want our place alongside other Americans who have full congressional voting rights! We encourage all DC voters to Vote for Voting Rights by going to the polls on Tuesday, January 13, 2004.

FALL 2003 www.dcvote.org

DC Votes Website & Communications

As a grassroots educational and advocacy organization, DC Vote recognizes the absolute need to be able to provide the most up-to-date information to the greatest number of supporters and friends of the organization as possible. DC Vote has undertaken an ambitious program to improve its ability to communicate and deliver up-to-the-minute information to the public. As a first step toward improved external communications, DC Vote spent several months creating and designing a new, user-friendly website. The new DC Vote website was launched in June 2003. Since the launch, DC Vote continues to steadily add new features and updates to past activities and events. This new highly dynamic website gives DC Vote staff the ability to update the website as soon as new information is available. DC Vote adds new information on a daily basis. DC Vote is also working to make sure that upcoming events and activities are available on the website as early as possible. DC Vote launched a new feature of its website in November. Now, our supporters and friends can logon to the website to update their contact information and change their options for receiving different kinds of DC Vote emails. Soon, supporters will be able to use this feature to personalize advocacy letters to elected officials and editors of local and national newspapers. Creating a login account takes only a few minutes, but it will allow DC Vote and its supporters to begin targeting educational and advocacy efforts in ways that havent been possible. Login on the DC Vote website today!

DC Vote is a 501 (c) (3) educational and advocacy organization whose mission is to secure full voting representation in Congress for the residents of the District of Columbia.

Use the enclosed envelope or visit our website to make an end-of-the-year donation to DC Vote. We appreciate you support and wish everyone a Happy New Year 2004!

Washington, DC 20009 1500 U Street, NW

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