By Hallie J. Carl

Some of you know I am writing a book. I have spend the better part of two years doing in-depth research, taking writing classes and drafting out my book. In the process of doing this, I have learned more than I could have imagined about a wide variety of topics I didn’t spend much time on before. The topics of viniculture, horticulture, ornithology, prohibition and sufferage have been running around, like a free-range chicken in my mind.

One amazing thing I have found in this process is how willing people are to help. I have reached out to big organizations like the Smithsonian Institution and the National Audubon Society for research and have received prompt replies — not just from a random worker who had the misfortune of being forwarded my email, but the Head Archivist at the Smithsonian Institution or the Senior Curator of the History of Science and Technology at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, & Botanical Gardens. I have been humbled by people’s willingness to help and guide an unpublished author in her endeavors.

Since my main character was a real woman born in 1882—who settled into life and lived it as a learning opportunity—I have become very fond of her. She could have followed many career paths, even at a time when women did not traditionally work, especially after marriage and children.

She had an ardent love of women’s rights and sufferage, she was a brilliant writer and was often published in many major newspapers. The San Francisco Chronicle was the publication that she wrote for most.

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I am unsettled by most headlines these days. I find it both heartbreaking and disturbing to have someone lead the country who not only lacks empathy but on the most basic level, kindness.

So as I watch news updates, I recoil at the dehumanization of America and the leadership that creates chaos, frothing madness and eradication of foundational rights.

An area which disturb’s me greatly is the movement towards eradicating the 19th Amendment to move to a “one-vote per household” system.

Of course, I don’t believe something this preposterous would actually get passed on any level, but the fact that men are suggesting this and women are ok with it makes me nauseous (not all men, but some…not all women, but some.)

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For context, let me take you back in time:

In the 1870, Black men in America were given the right to vote through the passage of the 15th Amendment. This law is primarily created to ensure newly freed slaves have the right to vote. The amendment applied to African Americans and Mexican Americans, but not Native Americans or women. Women were officially denied the right to vote in every state.

Women would not have the right to vote for the next 113 years and women of color would face discrimination until 1964.

The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed in 1882, prevents anyone of Chinese descent from becoming a U.S. citizen, and obviously, with that—the right to vote.

In 1890 The Indian Naturalization Act allowed Native Americans to apply for citizenship. (This only applied to Native Americans living in the “Indian Territory,” or modern day Oklahoma.) Sadly, some states did not allow Native Americans to officially vote until the 1960s.

White women were given the right to vote on both state and national levels with the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920.

In 1924 the Indian Citizenship Act grants U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans, regardless of nation or tribe (the irony here is disturbing—granting citizenship to people that were the original citizens of this land).

1943 The Magnuson Act repeals the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and extends the right to become a naturalized citizen to “Chinese persons or persons of Chinese descent.” Many Asian Americans were excluded from voting until 1952.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits any kind of racial discrimination in voting. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the act during the civil rights movement. It officially recognizes that racial minorities have the right to vote and is considered the most important federal civil rights legislation of the 20th century.

The Jim Crow laws in the 1950’s and 1960’s required poll taxes and literacy tests for black votes, a fact that prevented Black men and women from voting. In a shameful act in United States history, courts actually upheld these laws, which were unconstitutional.

*Thank you to https://azlibrary.gov/starl/research-center/voting-rights-timeline for the above information.

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People have been fighting to have a voice in this country since its inception.

In a 1911 newspaper article, written by the main character in my book, she said,

“Going back to the first principles, this country was founded by men who refused to pay taxes in the levying of which they had no voice and over the expenditure of which they had no control.

Today, however, thousands of self-supporting women, administering their own affairs, are not represented in the body of elected governors, who, to a certain extent, may affect the value of their property, so we have taxation without representation for a large proportion of our American people. (This may be called a general reason why women should have the vote.)

More specifically, in every community there are many local programs in which the women are as much interested as the men, and in which they have fully as much at stake. On such questions they are, parenthetically, better qualified to express an opinion through their ballot then their men folk.

The movement for world peace would also receive a great impetus from the enfranchisement of women,  and, in fact, national questions of world import would be settled more fairly to the peoples of the world import would be settled more fairly to the people of the world if the feminine half had the right to express through the ballot box their views. 

In conclusion, women would quickly develop in politics the name of self-reliance and intellectual ability that they have developed in the affairs of the home and the social world.”

It is both dangerous and naive to suggest that 50.5% of the population of this country should not be able to vote. Let me make that abundantly clear: women are in the majority in the United States. There is no scenario where it is appropriate to repeal the rights of over half of a nation that have a say in it.

The actual blood, sweat and tears of so many people’s to allow all US Citizens to vote are crying out at the mere suggestion of any removal of voting rights.

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I was nearly 17 during the 1992 Presidential election. However, my best friend turned 18 on election day and not only did she get to vote, she was on the news for becoming a registered voter on the same day as her first Presidential election.

I remember standing in the polling line with my parents. In those days there was a “Kids Pick the President” mock election that I “voted in” while my parents both put their votes forward for William Jefferson Clinton, who became the 42nd President of the United States. The results for the mock election also voted in Bill.

I was envious of those who got to vote in 1992, so eager to have my voice counted in the future of the country. I was voted “Most Likely to be the First Woman President” the next year by my senior class and voted in my first Presidential election in 1996. Bill Clinton won again in 1996.

No matter who you vote for, the right to do so was fought for so you could. Women, your voice matters–no matter what. Do not take lightly to men (not all…but some) saying you should stay silent so only they can vote for the household. Speak out, even if your voice is shaking.

I purposefully didn’t give any specifics about the people I am
writing about in my book. Trust me, when I am done with it,
you will be able to make their acquaintance at your lesiure.