(Washington, DC) – In response to the request for personally identifiable information by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, Mayor Bowser asserted:
“The best thing I can do to instill confidence among DC residents in our elections is to protect their personally identifiable information from the Commission on Election Integrity. Its request for voter information, such as social security numbers, serves no legitimate purpose and only raises questions on its intent. I will join leaders of states around the country and work with our partners on the Council to protect our residents from this intrusion."
Though DC residents have all of the obligations of citizenship, including paying federal taxes, DC residents do not have access to full democracy. To this day, DC residents do not have a vote in Congress that allows our voices to be heard as equal citizens of this nation. Congress removed the right of citizens residing in D.C. to vote for president in 1801. We had to fight to get that right back in 1961, a mere 56 years ago, with the passage of the 23rd Amendment. Because of that, Washington, DC holds our right to vote and the entire electoral process in very high regard.