The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies recently announced that tickets for the Jan. 20 swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama won’t be provided directly to the public, but will go to Members of the 111th Congress. Each Member of the House of Representatives will receive 198 tickets to the inaugural ceremonies for distribution. All official tickets to the swearing-in ceremonies are provided free of charge. According to a press release from the office of U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara), there have been widespread reports of fraudulent offers of various inaugural ceremony tickets for sale. Capps’ office will use a lottery system to distribute available tickets to constituents who request them through the her Congressional website, house.gov/capps, or by contacting one of her offices. The deadline to request tickets from her office is Nov. 21 at 5 p.m. Capps’ office will notify constituents if they’ve been selected to receive a ticket by the first week of December. According to the release, Capps’ office only has tickets for the swearing-in ceremony—not any other inaugural events, including the post swearing-in parade or presidential balls. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies estimates that as many as two million people will attend the inauguration and related events in Washington, D.C. Winning constituents are advised to make airline and hotel accommodations as soon as possible. All ticketed attendees will be required to go through a vigorous security screening. Due to security concerns, there will be no food, beverages, strollers, large backpacks, or purses permitted in the ticketed viewing area. For more information, visit the official website on the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Ceremony at www.inaugural.senate.gov.
This article appears in Nov 20-27, 2008.