LWV Of District Of Columbia

Statement for the League of Women Voters of the United States and the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia before the US House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and US House Committee on Administration. 

Joint Hearing on American Confidence in Elections: The Path to Election Integrity in the District of Columbia.

In 2023, US and DC League members joined other leaders in the movement for DC Statehood to honor the holiday and discuss how statehood is both a human rights and racial justice issue. 

Led by moderator Nile Blass, panelists included:

• Virginia Kase Solomón, LWVUS
• Jason Fink, DC Office of Federal and Regional Affairs
• Jamal Holtz, 51 for 51
• Dr. George Derek Musgrove, DC Vote, co-author of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nationa's Capital
• Philip Panel, Anacostia Coordinating Council

WASHINGTON — Today the League of Women Voters of the United States CEO Virginia Kase Solomón issued the following statement after the Senate voted 81-14 to block D.C.'s criminal code overhaul:

This opinion was originally published in The Washington Post.

Anne Anderson from the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia discusses DC Statehood in this op-ed.

While abortion justice is necessary for the people of DC, our lack of statehood means we have little control over the future of reproductive rights. Until DC becomes a state and has, like all other states, the ability to make its own laws and policies, we remain subject to the oversight of Congress.  

But the District of Columbia is not a state. Why is that a problem?  Because of not being a state, the District of Columbia does not have any rights unless they are specifically allowed by Congress, since Congress exercises “exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever” over the Seat of Government of the United States. In other words, unless we have statehood, we don't have access to the rights that the current 50 states enjoy.