Today's Voting Rights Push

ON THIS day in 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed an act that ended slavery in the District of Columbia. It's a date that D.C. residents hold dear, and so it's appropriate that it serve as a vehicle to end another injustice. Today, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people will march on Congress to call attention to the disenfranchisement of this nation's capital city.

Led by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), the march has attracted support from area churches, unions, business leaders and civic activists. It comes as Congress returns from spring recess; among its unfinished business is the D.C. voting rights bill. Championed by Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) and the District's non-voting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the measure would give the 550,000 Americans who live in Washington, D.C., a voting seat in the House of Representatives. The measure was sidelined last month when House Republicans pulled a parliamentary trick.

It's encouraging that the Democratic leadership in the House, which has been valiant in its support of this measure, is not dissuaded. Indeed, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said he expects the bill to pass this week. Then it would face a rough road through a skeptical Senate to a hostile White House. Realists, and we include ourselves in that category, know that marches can be more about energizing a base than getting results. But we hope that more than a few in Congress will listen to the message that marchers bring them today.