Editorial: Voting, so much more than an obligation

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by Theresa Herron 

(This is adapted from the presentation given this summer at the Manchester Community Fair, on Ladies’ Day by Theresa Herron on behalf of the Manchester Ladies Society)

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that we could go back in time, to a fall day in the early 1900’s. Some things are the same- apple trees are full of fruit, crops are being harvested from the fields, children are getting ready to go back to school. One glaring difference between then and today would have been the upcoming election, as women were not given the Constitutionally guaranteed right to vote until the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, in 1920. If you are an adult woman, do you have an opinion on the upcoming Presidential election? Do you care who is running for our local School Board? Would you like to forgo your ability to voice that opinion in the polls, so your brother/father/husband could make those decisions for you?

ballots used for the Ladies’ Day vote at the 2016 Manchester Community Fair

At the Ladies’ Day presentation at the Manchester Community Fair this year, attendees were asked to vote in an informal poll on their way in, whether they supported University of Michigan or Michigan State University. Most women had strong opinions and were happy to put their ballot in the box. After presenting some information about the 19th Amendment, and reminding everyone about the poll in which they’d voted, the boxes were brought out… and then dropped in a trash can. “No one cares about your vote, before the 19th Amendment. How does that feel?” The women in the audience looked shocked, and a few gasped. It was fantastic.

Since the 19th Amendment recently celebrated its 96th anniversary, there are very few women alive today who were even born prior to that momentous occasion, much less of voting age. Like we do with many aspects of our lives, we take for granted the fact that we are able to register and vote, as women. Of course we can, that’s obvious. Except that it wasn’t, around a hundred years ago. Here are some “fun facts” about the 19th Amendment.

• 72 years passed between the first organized calls for suffrage for women in 1848, and the passage of the amendment that allowed it, in 1920.
• The amendment written by Susan B. Anthony in 1875 read, essentially, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
• The amendment was introduced to the Senate in 1878, was defeated in 1887, and then was really not even discussed in congress until 1914. Final passage by the states (36 of the then 48) happened in August of 1920. That means the women who had started the serious push and wrote the language of the amendment, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott, all died before the amendment was passed.
• The Manchester Enterprise published an article that detailed the passage of the 19th Amendment, in August of 1920. Read that article here: Enterprise suffrage article – it was retyped to make it legible. The article doesn’t go into any detail about local citizens that may have lobbied for the cause, but shows much of the hard work that went on across the country as people worked to give women in the US the right to vote.

Photo of Marie Kirchhofer from Historical Society’s files at the Manchester District Library

Let’s take a moment to consider one member of this community in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. Marie Kirchhofer was a woman that would have been well known at that time, as she was a community leader and active in many organizations. She taught German and other subjects in the Manchester schools, from around 1890 until 1918, when she retired and moved to Hollywood, California. (She had a brother, Hugo, who lived there with his family.) Along with her teaching, Miss Kirchhofer was on the Library board, was a Worthy Matron of the OES (Officers of the Eastern Star), was on the Sunday School convention board, belonged to Alpha Sigma, and held various officer positions for the Saturday Club. (Please take a moment to read another retyped article that follows, about a Saturday Club meeting hosted by Miss Kirchhofer, found in an issue of the Enterprise from 1914; it’s a lovely glimpse into life 100 years ago: Kirchhofer article) Miss Kirchhofer was respected and well known, which is obvious from Enterprise articles of the time. She was well educated and very invested in her community. She had an important role in the lives of the community’s children. Yet that worthy woman was denied a right to voice her opinion on Election Day. She was forced to watch her male neighbors and friends do the important work of deciding the people who would hold local, state, and federal offices. She was not able to directly participate in a very fundamental right of democracy, the right to vote.

This November, we will be asked to cast votes for many offices, from local township officials all the way up to our next US President. Many of us will take time to cast votes. I hope that we will also take a moment to remember the hard work that went in to the passage of the 19th Amendment, which made it possible for women in our country to be full citizens with the rights and responsibilities that go with citizenship. Maybe it’s more than a chore that we feel obligated to complete, but rather a blessed right in which we are honored to be included.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.