JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — With primaries across the First Coast and Southeast Georgia Tuesday, it is also a special anniversary all voters should remember.
Aug. 18 marks 100 years since the 19th Amendment was ratified, guaranteeing women a voice and vote.
The efforts took decades of marching, writing, hunger strikes, even early film footage of suffragists lobbying Theodore Roosevelt. Some would go to jail. Others would die before their mission was accomplished.
In 1919, Congress passed what would become the 19th Amendment. However, it would take months before two-thirds of states ratified the measure. On August 18, 1920 it was Tennessee that turned the scales and the constitutional change was made.
“It was decades-long fight and the idea of female suffrage predated that,” University of North Florida Pre-Law director Adrienne Lerner said.
She added that the amendment was a first-step in what would lead to rights for more groups.
“Women in the conversation changes the conversation, it changes how candidates engage, it changes the tone of some campaigns," Lerner explained, "It certainly has made campaigns pay attention to where large groups of women voters are.”
According to a 2019 study from the Center for American Women and Politics, there have been more female than male voters in presidential elections dating back to 1964. Additionally, the study showed in 2018 there were approximately 10 million more women than men registered to vote in the U.S.
Lerner said the anniversary should inspire current voters to exercise their right.
“They really put their lives into trying to extend the franchise and make votes meaningful for every citizen, so build on that legacy and engage,” Lerner said.