Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives

Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives include non-voting delegates and resident commissioners.

They are non-voting members who are elected from a U.S. territory or from Washington, D.C., to a two-year term (with the exception of the one representing Puerto Rico, who is elected to a four-year term). While unable to vote in the full House, a non-voting member may vote in a House committee of which the delegate is a member, as well as introduce legislation. There are currently six non-voting members, representing Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Non voting members serve exclusively in the House of Representatives—not the Senate. All delegates serve a term of two years, while resident commissioners serve a term of four years. They receive compensation, benefits, and franking privileges (the ability to send outgoing U.S. Mail without a stamp) similar to full House members. Since 1993, the rules governing the rights of a non-voting member have changed three times, and current representatives enjoy rights that they did not have previously.

Territorial delegates existed before the ratification of the United States Constitution. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 allowed for a territory with "five thousand free male inhabitants of full age" to elect a non-voting delegate to the Continental Congress. After the ratification of the Constitution, the first United States Congress reenacted the Ordinance and extended it to include the territories south of the Ohio River.

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