Special to The Hoya Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Lindsay Anderson/The Hoya Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) called for District voting rights on Saturday in Reiss Science Building. Her speech was part of a three-day conference sponsored by the GU College Democrats and several other groups.

The Democratic Party must motivate disaffected voters to go to the polls if it hopes to take back Congress in November, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said Saturday during a speech in Reiss Science Building. Norton said that many traditionally Democratic constituencies are less inclined to vote, including young voters and the poor. “They get nothing from society, so why should they vote?” Norton said regarding the latter group. The speech was the centerpiece of a three-day conference, sponsored by the Georgetown College Democrats and several other campus organizations. Other speakers at the conference included Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and representatives of several members of Congress, as well as pro-Democratic lobbying groups. Over the weekend conference students also lent a hand to two Democratic candidates in November’s elections: former Navy Secretary Jim Webb, who is running for Senate in Virginia, and Judy Feder, dean of Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute, who is running for Congress in northern Virginia. “From the reinvention of politics to the birth of America as a welfare state, every last bit of it is done by Democrats,” Norton said in her speech. “It is all spurred by young people.” Norton said that most registered independents are inclined to vote for Democrats, and encouraged those voters to join the party as “a sign of political maturity.” Norton said that the coming election will be particularly crucial for younger voters, who she said have much at stake. She said that the continuing American military occupation of Iraq and rising energy costs will have a far-reaching effect on the lives of young Americans. “It’s clear America is fed up,” Norton said. “We need a generation that will lead the way in taking back the House and the Senate.” Norton also discussed the District of Columbia’s ongoing campaign for voting rights in Congress. Norton, a non-voting member of the House of Representatives, is currently D.C.’s only representative in Congress. “Every time one of my constituents dies in Iraq, I think about this,” she said. A law introduced in the House earlier this year, which Norton helped write, would add two seats to the chamber, one of which would go to D.C. But Norton said that the Republicans would likely amend the measure to strike down certain voting rights.