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Washington Women's Suffrage Amendment (1910)
| Washington Women's Suffrage Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 1910 | |
| Topic Suffrage | |
Status Approved | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
Washington Women's Suffrage Amendment was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Washington on November 8, 1910. It was approved.
A "yes" vote supported this state constitutional amendment to provide women with the right to vote. |
A "no" vote opposed this state constitutional amendment to provide women with the right to vote. |
Election results
|
Washington Women's Suffrage Amendment |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
|
|
52,299 | 63.80% | ||
| No | 29,676 | 36.20% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Women's Suffrage Amendment was as follows:
| “ | For the proposed amendment of article six (VI) of the constitution, relating to the qualifications of voters within this state. Against the proposed amendment of article six (VI) of the constitution, relating to the qualifications of voters within this state. | ” |
Constitutional changes
The text of the amendment read:[1]
|
Section 1. All persons of the age of twenty-one years or over, possessing the following qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections: They shall be citizens of the United States; they shall have lived in the state one year, and in the county ninety days, and in the city, town, ward or precinct thirty days immediately preceding the election at which they offer to vote; they shall be able to read and speak the English language: Provided, That Indians not taxed shall never be allowed the elective franchise: And further provided, That this amendment shall not affect the rights of franchise of any person who is now a qualified elector of this state. The legislative authority shall enact laws defining the manner of ascertaining the qualifications of voters as to their ability to read and speak the English language, and providing for punishment of persons voting or registering in violation of the provision of this section. There shall be no denial of the elective franchise at any election on account of sex. |
Background
State women's suffrage ballot measures
- See also: State women's suffrage ballot measures
The 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ratified on August 18, 1920. The 19th Amendment prohibited the government from denying or abridging the right to vote on account of sex. Therefore, women were guaranteed the right to vote in the U.S. Constitution.
Before the 19th Amendment, the women's suffrage movement also campaigned for changes to state constitutions to provide women with a right to vote. Suffragists Carrie Chapman Catt and Nettie Rogers Shuler, in their book Woman Suffrage and Politics (1923), wrote that state ballot measures "spun the main thread of suffrage activity" in the movement's earlier years and were seen as stepping stones to national suffrage. "I don't know the exact number of States we shall have to have," said Susan B. Anthony, "but I do know that there will come a day when that number will automatically and resistlessly act on the Congress of the United States to compel the submission of a federal suffrage amendment." When asked about federal support for women's suffrage in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt advised the suffrage movement to "Go, get another State."[2]
Between 1867 and August 18, 1920, 54 ballot measures to grant women's suffrage were on the ballot in 30 states. Fifteen (15) of the ballot measures were approved, giving women the right to vote in 15 states. Since women did not have suffrage until after the ballot measures were approved, male voters decided the outcome of suffrage ballot measures.
Map of states that voted on suffrage ballot measures
The following is a map of which states approved and which states rejected women's suffrage ballot measures before the 19th Amendment. Suffrage was on the ballot at least once in 30 of 48 states (Alaska and Hawaii were not states until 1959). Of the 15 states that passed suffrage ballot measures, eight failed to pass measures on their first attempts. In Oregon and South Dakota, for example, suffrage measures were placed before voters at six elections before one was passed. In Utah and Wyoming, voters decided and approved women's suffrage as one provision of a ballot measure to adopt a state constitution. You can click on a state to learn more about the number of women's suffrage ballot measures that were voted on and in what years in that state.
See also
External links
- State of Washington ballot measure election results
- Washington State Constitution
- The History of Voting and Elections in Washington State
Footnotes
- ↑ Washington State Legislature, "Washington Constitution," accessed July 19, 2020
- ↑ Catt, Carrie Chapman and Nettie Rogers Shuler. (1923). Woman Suffrage and Politics: The Inner Story of the Suffrage Movement. New York, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. (pages 149-150)
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State of Washington Olympia (capital) |
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