We have a chance to make history this year by getting Maine’s federal delegation to support admitting Washington, D.C., as our 51^st state. I see no moral grounds on which anyone can say that 700,000-plus taxpaying D.C. residents should not have the same rights as every Maine voter. We have two senators and two representatives; based on population, they should have two senators and one representative.

Congress can admit new states to the Union. The vote needs to be a simple majority. To maintain conformity with the Constitution, a federal district needs to be set aside including the White House, the Capitol Building, and the federal buildings that surround it.

Washington, D.C., has a larger population than both Wyoming and Vermont. In a time when some of us are seriously concerned about voter fraud, what could be a bigger fraud than disenfranchising 700,000 taxpaying citizens by not allowing them equal representation in Congress?

Last year the House passed H.R. 51 to admit D.C., with both Maine Reps. Pingree and Golden supporting the bill, and the House will probably pass the same bill this year. The Senate should do the same.

We need every possible Republican, Independent and Democrat to vote in favor of this. Please contact Maine’s delegation and ask them to support H. 51 and S. 51, An Act to Admit Washington, D.C.  as the 51^st State. Let’s not let partisan politics get in the way of the basic rights we have as citizens of the United States.

Emanuel Pariser

Waterville