Seattle Women Mobilize for School Board Campaign
A grassroots effort kicks off to elect Mrs. R. S. Loyhed to the school board, showing early political organizing by Seattle women.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A mass meeting of women was held at the Chamber of Commerce yesterday for the purpose of taking steps toward conducting the campaign of Mrs. R. S. Loyhed for school director. The situation was thoroughly canvassed and several propositions discussed. About a score of women volunteered to work at the polls on election day, and several tendered the use of their carriages.
“About a score of women volunteered to work at the polls on election day, and several tendered the use of their carriages.”
Long before the 19th Amendment, women in the Washington Territory and later the state were using the school board as a gateway into electoral politics. This early organizing represents a pivotal moment in Seattle's civic history where women asserted their role in public administration despite being barred from general elections.
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