Washington on the Cutting Edge: Women and the Vote
Published 5:00 pm Monday, July 18, 2011
- <p>When this photograph was taken in 1895, 17-year-old Helen Richardson could not have envisioned that she would one day be in the vanguard of voting women in the U.S. or that her first and only paying job would be as an attendant at the voting polls in Oysterville.</p>
In November 1910, nine years before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution extended the vote to all the nations women, Washington became the fifth state to give women the right to vote. The amendment to the state constitution carried by nearly two to one.
The early enfranchisement of women in Washington state followed a pattern that had begun in 1854, at the first meeting of Washingtons territorial legislature, Seattles founder Arthur Denny proposed womens suffrage. His suggestion lost by an eight to nine vote, but in 1883 the territorial legislature did give women the right to vote, passing the legislation by a good majority. The victory was short lived, however, and in 1887 the Territorial Supreme Court ruled that Congress had not intended to give territories the power to enfranchise women.
The women of Pacific County, like women in other parts of the state, had mixed feelings about the privilege of voting and its attendant responsibilities. Helen Richardson Espy of Oysterville, the wife of a former state senator and well-acquainted with the necessities of voting, expressed her frustration in a letter to her eldest daughter, who was away at school:
Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1914
Dear Daughter:
This has been election day and some way it has been strenuous. Papa, Mr. Stoner and Mr. Goulter have charge of the polls. Mrs. Stoner took the men up their noon meal and I sent dinner tonight. Our stove has been smoking to beat its record, and I had an awful time getting anything cooked. To top it off, your three year old brother went off with little Albert Andrews today and had an undress parade right down Fourth Street. I was so provoked. They were not together fifteen minutes. This happened while I was off voting. Willard has been threatened with dire results if he went ever since their last undress parade so I punished him this time and think he is duly impressed. It just goes to show that women belong at home and not at election polls.
Much love dearie. Take care of yourself, for remember nothing in the world could take the place of mothers first born.
Devotedly,
Mama
Four years later, Mrs. Espy would work at the polls, herself, in Oysterville. It was her first (and only) paying job.
