The Day Women Lost the Vote in Washington
A legal technicality regarding the wording of a territorial act effectively stripped Washington women of their hard-won voting rights in 1887.
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.
J. G. Haines, Esq., returned from the Supreme Court at Olympia and a Post-Intelligencer reporter called on him to ascertain his views as to the effect of the recent decision of the Supreme Court on the woman suffrage question. In reply to the reporter's inquiry, Mr. Haines said: 'Undoubtedly the decision does away with woman suffrage in Washington Territory. I have heard it stated that it was the intention of either Judge Turner or Judge Langford to deliver an opinion on the matter, but this will probably not be done, as neither of these gentlemen will be on the bench when the Supreme Court meets again. There are only two ways to remedy this defective law. One is by the Legislature to meet and save the defect in the present law, or pass a new act, and the other is to have Congress pass a curative act—neither of which, I think, will be done. Judge Turner and Judge Langford delivered lengthy statements on the subject. Judge Turner's opinion was on the premise that, as the subject matter of the act was not expressed in the title, it was in conflict with the provisions of the organic act, and therefore unconstitutional and void. I consider this a final and absolute decision.'
“Undoubtedly the decision does away with woman suffrage in Washington Territory.”
This 1887 legal crisis highlights the fragility of civil rights when subject to procedural technicalities. While Washington would later become a pioneer in women's suffrage in 1910, this report captures the immediate, demoralizing sting of a judicial ruling that erased political participation overnight.
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