Amendment XXIII · Later Amendment
Twenty-Third Amendment: Electoral votes for Washington, D.C.
About 10 min total: 5 min reading + 5 min for its 3 practice questions
D.C. gets presidential electors, no more than the least populous state (3).
- Proposed by Congress
- June 16, 1960
- Ratified
- March 29, 1961
- Group
- Later Amendment
The text
Section 1.
The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:
A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
What it means
- The District of Columbia chooses presidential electors as if it were a state, but no more than the least populous state (today 3).
- It does not give D.C. voting members of Congress.
Who proposed it
Proposed by the 86th Congress (House June 14, Senate June 16, 1960). A single sponsor is not reliably documented in our sources, so none is named here.
When it was proposed and ratified
- Proposed by Congress: June 16, 1960. House June 14, Senate June 16, 1960.
- Ratified: March 29, 1961. Ohio was the 38th state. Certified April 3, 1961. D.C. first voted for President in 1964.
Amendments are not signed into law. Congress proposes them by a two-thirds vote of both houses, and they become part of the Constitution when three-fourths of the states ratify. The President has no formal role (Article V).
Why it was made
Residents of the District of Columbia, as the national capital is not a state, had no vote for President even though they paid federal taxes and served in the military. By 1960 D.C. had more residents than several states.
Key Supreme Court cases
None of the FCLE landmark cases centers on this amendment. See all landmark cases.
FCLE tips
- D.C. has 3 electoral votes; total electoral votes = 538.
| This | With this |
|---|---|
| 23rd: D.C. votes for President | D.C. still has no voting member of Congress |
Sources: National Archives (text and dates); Constitution Annotated (Congress.gov) (proposal and ratification history); U.S. Senate Historical Office and Library of Congress (sponsors).