THIS DAY IN CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY: On March 29, 1961, the 23rd Amendment, giving the District of Columbia representation in the Electoral College, was ratified. Since then, D.C.’s 3 electoral votes have been reliably cast for the Democratic candidate.
Early in the Republic’s history, the argument sometimes advanced against giving government employees the vote was that they have a conflict of interest: They will always vote for the candidates who favor higher spending. The argument wasn’t entirely crazy.