The Historic 1889 Fight for Woman Suffrage
When Washington Territory delegates gathered to draft the state constitution, they included a separate ballot measure to secure voting rights for 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.
Separate article, No. 1. All persons male and female of the age of 21 years or over, possessing the other qualifications provided by this constitution, shall be entitled to vote at all elections. If a majority of the ballots cast at said election on said separate articles be in favor of the adoption of either of said separate articles, then such separate article so receiving a majority shall become a part of this constitution and shall govern and control any provision of the constitution in conflict therewith.
“All persons male and female of the age of 21 years or over... shall be entitled to vote at all elections.”
This text marks a pivot point in Washington history. While the 1883 territorial suffrage law was overturned by the courts in 1887, this constitutional effort set the stage for the successful 1910 push that finally granted women the vote in Washington, a full decade before the 19th Amendment.
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