March 7, 2005: NORTON AND REPUBLICAN MEMBERS WRITE COLLEAGUES IN SUPPORT OF D.C. VOTING RIGHTS

Washington, DC--Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and three Republican members of Congress today released a “Dear Colleague” letter reporting the results of a national survey showing that 82% of Americans support equal voting rights for D.C. residents in the Senate and House – up 10 points in just five years. In addition to Norton, the letter was signed by Representatives Tom Davis (VA), Dana Rohrabacher (CA) and Ralph Regula (OH), the authors of four separate bills with different approaches to achieving voting rights. Even though none of the four bills is expected to move to the floor this year, the members are working together “to lay the groundwork that is necessary for voting rights to be taken seriously in the Congress,” Norton said. The large public majority favoring equal congressional representation, mostly unknown to members of the House and Senate, is an important part of the predicate for passage of a voting rights bill. A second Dear Colleague to Senators from Norton and the Senate sponsors also is planned.

The letter from the four members reports the findings of a DC Vote poll that shows “remarkably strong evidence of support regardless of the political party, region, ethnicity, age, gender or religion.” The letter illustrates a graph showing that 77% of Republicans, 82% of independents, and 87% of Democrats favor two Senators and a voting representative for the District, as well as a super majority of public support in a wide variety of the categories, from family members of military to metropolitan area voters.

Norton is working with voting rights supporters and members of Congress to take advantage of the strong public support by focusing this year on a national campaign “to give members of Congress an offer they can’t afford to refuse--- the strong support of their own constituents for D.C. voting rights.” The Congresswoman said that even bipartisan support for voting rights, “cannot bear fruit in Congress unless we do our homework nationally to link members of Congress with the American majority that is already with us on D.C. voting rights.”

Speaker Dennis Hastert, an opponent of D.C. voting rights says that no bill will come to the floor that does not have majority support from Republican House members. The DC Vote poll shows that Americans who identify as Republicans overwhelmingly support D.C. voting rights, although most Republican members of the House do not. The Dear Colleague from the four members is designed to help members focus positively on the issue, a step that is necessary before any of the four bills is likely to be considered.