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Washington D.C., Statehood Referendum (November 2016)
| Washington, D.C., Statehood Referendum |
|---|
|
| The basics |
| Election date: |
| November 8, 2016 |
| Status: |
| Approved |
| Topic: |
| City governance |
| Related articles |
| City governance on the ballot November 8, 2016 ballot measures in Washington, D.C. Local Ballot Measures Local ballot measures, Washington, D.C. |
| See also |
| Washington, D.C. Municipal elections in Washington, D.C. (2016) |
A statehood referendum was on the ballot for voters in Washington, D.C., on November 8, 2016. It was approved.
| A "yes" vote was a vote in support of advising the Washington D.C. city council to approve the proposal of statehood. |
| A "no" vote was a vote in opposition to advising the city council to approve the proposal of statehood. |
The referendum was designed to ask voters if they wanted to split the nation's capital into a new state for residents and a federal district for the government buildings and monuments. The proposal would also provide for the new state to be called New Columbia and allow voters to approve of the new constitution and boundaries. This referendum question was put on the ballot as an advisory question and was not designed to have any legally binding effect.[1][2]
Election results
| Washington, D.C., Statehood Advisory Referendum B | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes | 244,134 | 78.48% | ||
| No | 40,779 | 13.11% | ||
- Election results from Washington, D.C., Board of Elections
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title appeared as follows:[2]
| “ | Advisory Referendum on the State of New Columbia Admission Act Resolution of 2016[3] | ” |
Ballot summary
The ballot summary appeared as follows:[2]
| “ | To ask the voters on November 8, 2016, through an advisory referendum, whether the Council should petition Congress to enact a statehood admission act to admit the State of New Columbia to the Union. Advising the Council to approve this proposal would establish that the citizens of the District of Columbia (“District”) (1) agree that the District should be admitted to the Union as the State of New Columbia; (2) approve of a Constitution of the State of New Columbia to be adopted by the Council; (3) approve the State of New Columbia’s boundaries, as adopted by the New Columbia Statehood Commission on June 28, 2016; and (4) agree that the State of New Columbia shall guarantee an elected representative form of government.
Shall the voters of the District of Columbia advise the Council to approve or reject this proposal? YES, to approve ____ NO, to reject____ [3] |
” |
Full text
The full text of the measure can be found here.
Support
Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) supported the referendum.[1]
Hillary Clinton supported D.C. statehood and stated that she would be a vocal advocate for the referendum.[1]
Opposition
Ann Loikow, an organizer with DC Statehood Yes We Can, opposed this referendum, stating that "This whole process is a sham. . . . They’re not offering us democracy — they’re offering us autocracy, and they’re the autocrats that are going to keep running it."[1]
Path to the ballot
The referendum was introduced by Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie, Charles Allen, David Grosso, Brianne Nadeau, Mary Cheh, Vincent Orange, LaRuby May, Anita Bonds, Elissa Silverman, Jack Evans, Brandon Todd, and Yvette Alexander on June 28, 2016. On July 12, 2016, the referendum was unanimously approved by the council as Resolution R21-0570.[4]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Washington ,D.C., statehood referendum. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Washington Post, "D.C. statehood measure approved for November ballot," July 12, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 D.C. Municipal Regulations and D.C. Register, "Resolution 21-570, Advisory Referendum on the State of New Columbia Admission Act Resolution of 2016," accessed July 26, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Council of the District of Columbia, "PR21-0839 - Advisory Referendum on the State of New Columbia Admission Act Resolution of 2016," accessed July 26, 2016
