Legislative Luncheon with State Senator Nathan Manning

YWCA Elyria/Lorain County Racial Equity Center

318 West Ave

Elyria Ohio

Ohio US

Friday, September 22, 2023 - 11:30am to 1:30pm

The League of Women Voters was born from such a struggle. The 19th Amendment was finally included in the US Constitution on August 26, 1920

On February 14,1920, the League was formed on the premise that a nonpartisan civic organization could provide the education and experience the public needed to assure the success of democracy. Founder Carrie Chapman Catt exclaimed that the League was formed to “finish the fight” to win national woman suffrage. Yet within the struggle for the right to vote, we left some of our sisters behind when the 75-year fight for votes for women didn’t include securing these rights for women of color. And that struggle continued for decades until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

And now today, across the states, barriers to voting are being erected to disenfranchise communities of color, people of low-income, students, and people with disabilities. All eligible voters should be able to cast a ballot confidently, proudly, and without additional requirements that prevent them from voting. It is clear that the “fight” remains unfinished. From this vantage point, looking back while planning ahead, we’re committed to remembering and commemorating the accomplishments of all those who fought for our right to vote while advocating for voting reforms and defending democracy. And that the work of the League is needed as much now as it was at its founding.

League of Women Voters ^®
of Lorain County