
Americans have a big election tomorrow, and 2020 marked the centennial of national women’s suffrage in the United States. But many of us aren’t aware of just how rocky and uneven the road to universal suffrage has been—full of switchbacks, detours, closed roads, and obstacles—or how precarious those rights continue to be.
First, I hope to see you tomorrow night at my last event of the season, a virtual conversation with the folks at Mystery to Me books in Madison, Wisconsin. (They are GREAT fans of Myrtle!) Join us Tuesday, November 8 at 7 pm Central. Click here to register!


New York City voters, 1917
The right of citizens to participate in their own government is the hallmark of democracy. But throughout history, exactly which citizens are good enough to vote has been hotly debated—and all too often frightfully limited. Even after people have secured their right to vote, efforts to restrict voting rights have continued to suppress access to this most fundamental democratic process.

1866 suffrage demonstrations in London led to riots (Hyde Park riots, Illustrated London News)
In the 19th century, it became more and more common in England and the US for people to protest the lack of voting rights. In the 1830s, less than 1% of the male population of Britain (and 0% of the females) could vote in parliamentary elections. The vote was restricted to wealthy property owners, and many British subjects were not represented in Parliament (this had been one of the primary grievances of the American colonists that sparked the Revolutionary War fifty years earlier). Efforts to expand suffrage continued throughout the century, with reforms coming piecemeal. Not until 1918—with the passage of the Representation of the People Act (which extended voting rights to some women for the first time)—would Englishmen enjoy universal male suffrage.

The United States’s record isn’t all that much better. Property requirements were gradually eliminated, state by state, through the 1820s, granting the right to vote to most white men. And while Black men were technically enfranchised with the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, in actual practice, many states instituted new discriminatory laws that made access to the polls all but impossible for African Americans and the poor, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and other measures.

This 19th c. English suffrage poster shows a hunger striker being force fed
Women’s suffrage demonstrations in the US and Britain have become notorious for the lengths officials went to suppress their protests. In America, many individual states had granted women the right to vote, beginning with Wyoming in 1890, but the 19th Amendment extended the franchise nationwide. Again, this effectively applied mostly to white women, as laws throughout the country still restricted voting based on race. In addition to the discriminatory laws targeting Blacks that most of us are aware of, the vote was also withheld from many Native Americans (as late as 1948) and Asian Americans (1943) until well into the 20th century.

Activist Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, an immigrant from Hong Kong, organized women’s suffrage demonstrations in New York as a teen during the 1910s, despite the fact that the Chinese Exclusion Act prevented her from becoming a US citizen at the time.
Near-universal suffrage in the United States was not guaranteed until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ensured fair access to the polls regardless of race. A Supreme Court decision followed in 1966, finally abolishing wealth and tax requirements.
Wikipedia has an eye-opening timeline for US voting rights here.
The Voting Rights Act has been expanded and reinforced several times since its passage—but it has also faced challenges. In 2013 some of its provisions were struck down by the Supreme Court. The new ruling removed a requirement that states—especially those with a history of discriminatory voting practices—appeal to the federal government to change their voting laws, weakening national voting protections. (And, in fact, some states immediately moved to change their own laws.)
Our right to vote might seem secure, but even today efforts to make it harder for Americans to vote are in full swing. The state of Kansas, where I live, attempted to require proof of US citizenship to vote, which was rejected and declared unconstitutional in April, 2020. Such measures are often couched as necessary efforts to safeguard the security and authenticity of the voting process, but their application unfairly affects minorities, immigrants, and the poor.

In April 2020, during the COVID-19 outbreak, voters in Wisconsin’s Democratic presidential primary were required to vote in person when a US Supreme Court ruling knocked down a state executive order allowing mail-in ballots
The best way to protect our hard-won right to vote is to exercise it. The nonpartisan website Vote.org has everything you need to find your local polling place. Cast your ballot tomorrow! (Or even today!)


So important. Democracy is fragile and constantly under siege. Thanks for posting.