The road to suffrage has been long,
bumpy, and has at times, reversed course. The women of Utah Territory were the first in the nation to head to the polls in 1870. But the right to vote was short-lived. In 1887, their right to vote was repealed by Congress only to be reinstated in 1896. It would be yet another two and half decades before the ratification of the 19th Amendment expanded suffrage to women across the country. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped finish the job, removing barriers for disenfranchised African Americans to vote. In 2020, Utah State University launched its Year of the Woman campaign to celebrate important suffrage milestones. As the country prepares for the general election in November, we asked four Aggie women why voting matters to them.
By Kristen Munson The “I Voted” stickers featured were created for the Utah Office of Elections and Better Days 2020 effort to celebrate Utah’s 150th anniversary of women being the first in the nation to vote. Images by artists Rachel Hafen, Cal Haynes, Canace Pulfer, and Brooklyn Cardon.
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UTAHSTATE I FALL 2020
