[LWVNM Action] When women vote, the nation benefits

[Meredith Machen]

OUR VIEW
When women vote, the nation benefits
.        Aug 20, 2020 
 
That the 100th anniversary of U.S. women winning the right to vote is
happening during the same week that the first Black woman will accept the
nomination to be vice president of the United States signals both progress
and how far the country still has to go.
Sen. Kamala Harris of California spoke Wednesday night at the Democratic
National Convention, telling the story of how a daughter of immigrants - her
father was Jamaican and her mother from India - became a prosecutor,
attorney general, United States senator, presidential candidate and, now,
the nominee of the Democratic Party to serve as vice president in a Joe
Biden administration.
Her story is an incredible one. As she is careful to point out, it is one
made possible by the many women who came before - including those
suffragists who risked their lives to win the vote for women.
Their efforts culminated in the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the
Constitution on Aug. 18, 1920, with Tennessee the state that pushed it over
the top.
We must never forget the significant sacrifices our foremothers made to win
women the right to vote. Those turn-of-the-century activists understood that
voting creates change. It is a powerful tool to create the world we want, as
opposed to the world that exists.
Especially in these difficult times, when the country is divided, fighting a
pandemic, digging out of an economic collapse, struggling with climate
change and healing racial divides, participation in voting matters more than
ever.
This celebration of suffrage is a reminder that we must not take voting for
granted. Groups such as the League of Women Voters, with its national,
statewide and local presence, continue to spread the word that voting is an
essential part of preserving our democratic republic.
Commemorations of this important anniversary offer an opportunity to educate
everyone about the importance of voting. We have time now - months before
the general election - to consider the safest, most effective ways to vote
during a pandemic, when gathering in large numbers is considered unsafe.
Our vote is our voice, and we must make ourselves heard. And we can
celebrate progress.
On Sunday in Santa Fe, celebrants will meet in the PERA parking lot across
from the Roundhouse before 2 p.m. to join for a car parade starting at 2
sharp - the route will go by Nina Otero-Warren's house at 135 Grant Ave.,
where participants will be invited to honk twice. The event is sponsored by
the League of Women Voters. (Next week, on Wednesday, a virtual Women's
Equality Day Celebration takes place from 4 to 7 p.m.; the YouTube address
is  <https://youtu.be/sA4mqaSChFo> youtu.be/sA4mqaSChFo.)
Otero-Warren was an important suffragist and a woman of substance. Her work
in politics, education and public health spanned decades, and her support of
suffrage for women is credited with the amendment's approval in New Mexico.
She was the first Latina to run for Congress.
Yet her contributions, and those of other women of color in achieving the
passage of the 19th Amendment, became lost in the years after the amendment
was ratified. Not all women were granted the vote - white women, yes, but
women of color, including Native women, had to wait decades before suffrage
was theirs.
Black women who had first worked for the abolition of slavery were essential
in seeking suffrage for women in the late 19th century, and until recently,
much of that story was forgotten. That's another reason the nomination of
Harris to be vice president - this week, of all weeks - is so appropriate.
The United States never has elected a female vice president. Hillary Clinton
fell short of breaking the glass ceiling in her historic run for president
in 2016. The nation has come a long way, but more work lies ahead so women
finally can achieve the equality for which suffragists fought so diligently.
As those brave women knew, it all starts with voting.
 
 
Meredith Machen
League of Women Voters of New Mexico

 <tel:505-577-6337> 505-577-6337 c
 <mailto:projects at lwvnm.org> projects at lwvnm.org
 <mailto:meredith.machen at gmail.com> meredith.machen at gmail.com
 
Empowering Voters - Defending Democracy
 
 
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