The Forgotten Ballot for Women’s Suffrage in Washington
In 1878, Washington Territory’s proposed constitution contained specific articles to enfranchise women and restrict the sale of liquor, marking a radical early push for civic equality.
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.
At the time of the submission of this Constitution to the electors for their adoption or rejection, there shall be submitted, as separate articles, the following: Separate Article No. 1. No person, who is otherwise a qualified elector, shall be denied the right to vote in this State, on account of sex, anything in this Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding. Separate Article No. 2. No person shall be denied the right, on account of sex, to vote or hold office in this State; nor shall such right be, in any manner, abridged on account of sex. Separate Article No. 3. It shall be lawful for the electors of any county, municipal corporation or precinct not included within the corporate limits of any municipality, at any general election, to prohibit by a majority vote, the sale of spirituous liquors in less quantities than one gallon, except for medicinal or mechanical purposes.
“No person, who is otherwise a qualified elector, shall be denied the right to vote in this State, on account of sex, anything in this Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding.”
The 1878 constitutional convention in Walla Walla was a milestone in the long road to Washington’s statehood. These 'separate articles' highlight that local struggles over suffrage and temperance were being debated decades before the 19th Amendment, rhyming with the ongoing contemporary push for electoral reform and civic participation in Washington.
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