The Elective Franchise Bill Fails—With Indians Explicitly Barred
A proposed constitutional amendment in Olympia would have fixed voting rules for male citizens while writing 'Indians not taxed' out of the franchise; it died on the floor.
Olympia, Feb. 21.—Special.—In the senate, H. R. No. 100, for a constitutional amendment regarding the elective franchise, came up for reconsideration. Its provisions were that every male citizen of the United States of the age of 21 years or over, who shall have been a citizen for ninety days and an inhabitant of this state one year, in the county ninety days and in the election precinct thirty days immediately preceding the election at which he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote at such election in his precinct; provided, that Indians not taxed shall never be allowed the elective franchise. To this an amendment was added and adopted to the effect that all male persons who at the time of adoption of the section were qualified electors shall be electors. The bill failed to pass.
“Provided, that Indians not taxed shall never be allowed the elective franchise.”
Voting-rights fights in Washington still turn on who counts as a legitimate member of the body politic. The 1895 bill's explicit exclusion of 'Indians not taxed' is a reminder that the state's electoral rules were built with racial boundaries, not just procedural ones.
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