Talk:United States presidential elections in the District of Columbia

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September 26, 2021	Featured list candidate	Promoted

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Change title?

Shouldn't this article be titled "United States presidential elections in the District of Columbia"? This would be consistent with the pages for each individual election (e.g. 2020 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia), and it would be more accurate because officially, the electoral votes come from the District of Columbia rather than Washington, D.C. As proof, notice that during the 2021 counting of electoral votes by Congress, they do not say "Washington, D.C." but rather "District of Columbia": [1]. Azmjc02 (talk) 04:43, 12 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

As creator of the article, I have no objection to that change. It does make sense, given that the Constitutional amendment granting these electoral college votes refers to the District, not the city. This may be an issue for broader discussion, given the existing dichotomy between titles referencing one or the other name (e.g., Geography of Washington, D.C. and Crime in Washington, D.C., but List of high schools in the District of Columbia and List of law enforcement agencies in the District of Columbia). BD2412 T 04:55, 12 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

As the nominator of FLC, I also have no objections, but would appreciate if a discussion on larger level is conducted regarding use of "Washington, D.C." and "District of Columbia". – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 06:18, 12 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Now I'm wondering if the Washington/District of Columbia dichotomy is not something that has already been discussed somewhere. I'll look for that tomorrow, to be sure. BD2412 T 07:45, 12 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Basically, think of the District of Columbia as the "state equivalent", and Washington as the "capital" of that. Washington is the city, the District of Columbia is the "state", if you will. This is why I am mostly against referring to the place as "Washington, D.C.". I understand it is to differentiate it from Washington, the state, but saying "Washington, D.C." is similar to saying something like "Charlotte, N.C.". TLDR: The District of Columbia is the state equivalent, which includes and is coterminous with the City of Washington. Azmjc02 (talk) 17:41, 12 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I have laid out the general question at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style#Washington, D.C. vs. District of Columbia. I think it does make sense for this article to be titled with "District of Columbia", and I see no real basis for objection, so I am going to WP:BOLDLY move it now. BD2412 T 18:35, 12 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that! – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 18:39, 12 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]