Yes. D.C. residents can vote for president, and have been doing so since 1964. The Twenty-Third Amendment, ratified in 1961, gave the District of Columbia three electoral votes and put its residents on the presidential ballot for the first time. Every other federal vote is a different story, but the presidential one is settled.
Where the Right Comes From
The original Constitution handed presidential electors to states only. D.C. is a federal district, not a state, so for most of American history its residents had no say in choosing the president despite living in the capital. The Twenty-Third Amendment, ratified on March 29, 1961, closed that gap and nothing more.
Section 1 lets the District appoint electors for 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.”1Library of Congress. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Third Amendment The sponsors were explicit that the amendment did not make D.C. a state, did not confer any other attribute of statehood, and did not change Congress’s power to govern the District.2LII / Legal Information Institute. Overview of Twenty-Third Amendment, District of Columbia Electors
How the Three Electoral Votes Work
The amendment caps D.C.’s electoral votes at whatever the least populous state receives. Wyoming currently holds that position with three, so D.C. also gets three: the minimum any state receives, made up of two for its notional Senate seats plus one for its notional at-large House seat.1Library of Congress. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Third Amendment
D.C.’s population of roughly 694,000 is actually larger than Wyoming’s and Vermont’s, but the constitutional cap holds the District at three no matter how much it grows.3U.S. Census Bureau. QuickFacts – District of Columbia
All three votes go to whichever candidate wins the D.C. popular vote. Since D.C. first participated in 1964, that has been the Democratic nominee every time, often by more than 90 percent in recent cycles.
How to Vote in a DC Presidential Election
The practical process looks a lot like it does in any state. U.S. citizens who are at least 18 and live in the District can register and cast a ballot for president. D.C. offers same-day voter registration, so eligible residents can register and vote on Election Day itself.
D.C. residents living overseas or serving in the military can vote absentee using the Federal Post Card Application. For the November 2026 general election, the registration and ballot request deadline is October 13, 2026 for mail submissions. Ballots returned by email or fax must arrive by Election Day; mailed ballots have a ten-day grace period after the election.4FVAP.gov. District of Columbia
What DC Residents Still Cannot Vote For
Presidential elections are where the ballot ends for federal voting power. D.C. has one non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives, currently Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has held the seat since 1991. The delegate can introduce bills, speak on the floor, and vote in committee, but cannot vote when the full House takes up final legislation.5Ballotpedia. United States Congressional Non-Voting Members
The District has no senators at all. It does elect two “shadow senators” and a “shadow representative,” but those positions carry no salary, no floor privileges, and no committee assignments; their job is lobbying for statehood.6Ballotpedia. Shadow Congresspersons So a D.C. resident’s presidential ballot is real and counted, but the same voter has no voting member in either chamber of Congress.
Why DC Is Not Just a State
The reason for this split treatment is that D.C. is a federal district, not a state, and the Constitution ties most federal voting rights to statehood. The Twenty-Third Amendment carved out presidential voting as a single exception without changing anything else. D.C. residents pay full federal income taxes, register for Selective Service, and serve on juries, but Congress still writes and can override the District’s local laws.7DC.gov. Why Statehood for DC
That gap has kept a statehood push alive for decades. The Washington, D.C. Admission Act, reintroduced each Congress as H.R. 51, would admit most of the current District as the 51st state while shrinking the federal district to a small area covering the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, and National Mall. The new state would elect two senators and one voting House member. The bill passed the House once, in 2021, and has never received a Senate vote.8Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Norton Responds to Incorrect Assertion that 23rd Amendment Must Be Repealed Before D.C. Can Be Granted Statehood
Until something changes, the answer stays the same: a D.C. resident’s presidential ballot counts toward three electoral votes, and that is the only federal vote they get.