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100 YEARS AGO

January 6, 1920, Kentucky voted to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. Two months later, on March 29, 1920, the Kentucky legislature also passed a measure allowing women to vote in presidential elections. That law became unnecessary when the 19th ammendment was ratified by the 36th state.

February 14, 1920: The League of Women Voters is founded as "a mighty experiment" at the Victory Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Chicago, Illinois. By now, 33 states have ratified the suffrage amendment, but final victory is still three states away.

August 18, 1920: Tennessee becomes the 36th state to ratify the Amendment. A young state legislator casts the deciding vote after being admonished to do so by his mother.

August 26, 1920: The 19th Amendment is quietly signed into law by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby, granting women the right to vote.

Carrie Chapman Catt summarized the effort involved in securing passage of the 19th Amendment:

"To get the word 'male' in effect out of the Constitution cost the women of the country fifty-two years of pauseless campaign... During that time they were forced to conduct fifty-six campaigns of referenda to male voters; 480 campaigns to get Legislatures to submit suffrage amendments to voters; 47 campaigns to get State constitutional conventions to write woman suffrage into state constitutions; 277 campaigns to get State party conventions to include woman suffrage planks in party platforms, and 19 campaigns with 19 successive Congresses."

In the November 2, 1920 Presidential Election just 36% of eligible women turned out to vote (compared with 68% of men). The low turnout was partly due to other barriers to voting, such as literacy tests, long residency requirements and poll taxes. Inexperience with voting and persistent beliefs that voting was inappropriate for women may also have kept turnout low. The gap was lowest between men and women in states that were swing states at the time, such as Missouri and Kentucky, and where barriers to voting were lower."

League of Women Voters ^®
of Oberlin Area

Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.

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100 YEARS AGO

League of Women Voters ^® of Oberlin Area

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Action Alerts

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100 YEARS AGO

League of Women Voters ® of Oberlin Area

Address:

Email:

League of Women Voters ^® of Oberlin Area