Amendment XXIII.
SECTION 1
The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as 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.
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Although the United States Constitution contains a provision that the district constituting the seat of Government shall not be part or a state, it contains no directions about how big or small that that state needs to be. In consequence, what we ended up with is half of a diamond shaped thing, bounded on three sides by Maryland and on the other by the Potomac River. The site which was chosen for the nation's capital, was famously a stagnant swamp which stank then and it stinks now.
The problem with carving out a district which is not part of a state, is that under the other provisions of the Constitution, they were originally not entitled to any kind of representation in Congress despite housing the very buildings and infrastructure which house it. As a result of not being entitled to any kind of representation in Congress, the citizens of that same district were also not entitled to any kind of vote for the President either. This is a bad thing.
The background to 23A involves a slow brew in Cuba and the people in nearby Puerto Rico being naturally worried about the spread of communism; backed by Soviet nuclear weapons. This story would continue to quietly boil until the Missile Crisis of late 1961 but rather than give the people of Puerto Rico direct franchise in the US Congress, they would quietly kick that can down the road; as giving the people of Puerto Rico direct franchise and representation in the US Congress would dilute everyone else's power in Congress.
However, this also fired up tensions in Washington DC, and rather than changing the Constitution to alter the franchise and representation of the people of DC to afford them seats in Congress, 23A is such that the people of DC would now get a number of Electors in the Electoral College as if it were a State.
As an aside, the District of Columbia has been afforded a seat in the United States House of Representatives but that seat comes with no voting rights on any legislation. Being Representative for DC is either the worst job in the world because it comes with literally zero power to do anything or the best job in the world because it comes with literally zero responsibility.
SECTION 2
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
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I know that I have mentioned this before but every time I see this kind of legislation, it really bothers me.
This should have materially changed Article I, Section 8 but for some reason, US Title generally retains previous paragraphs and attaches new paragraphs to the end of legislation. Art 1, S8 already contains the opening clause of "The Congress shall have Power" which should have been enough to have already said this.
Amendment XXIV.
SECTION 1
The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay poll tax or other tax.
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Once again, 24A is about trying to close yet another loophole that state legislatures have imposed as a barrier to entry. Once again the United States Constitution fails to explicitly grant the right to vote in elections at law.
SECTION 2
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
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Cut, paste, rise, repeat.
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