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| Suffragette Kitty |
1911 On October 10, 1911, California's male voters granted the franchise to the state's voting age women. Good on them, of course. One hates to pooh-pooh such a clear victory for right and decency, but I wish the dudes would've done it with a little less pissing and moaning.
History students usually learn that 19th and early 20th century opposition to woman suffrage hinged on the belief that women were not rational creatures capable of making sound political decisions or that participation in the public/political sphere would compromise their prized and characteristic virtue (upon which nothing less than Western Civilization rested). But at least one Sacramentan, a writer for the Bee, found a novel, albeit petty, complaint about expanding the voter rolls. His October 28 headline screams "Feminists Raise Cost of Voting." Well, it's less a scream than a grumble, actually. According to the article, the coming flood of voters, an expected doubling of the previous turn-out, might require Sacramento County Registrar of Voters C.W. Haub to more than double the number of voting precincts and sharply increase the number of polling places. The costs associated with the new polling places seem to be what really bothered the author, though he doesn't exactly come out and say so. Not counting the cost of advertising and supplies, the expense involved in securing and staffing polling places would jump from around $3,080 for the previous election to an estimated $5,500-6,600. The reporter concludes, "It can therefore be seen that the enfranchisement of women will materially increase the cost of elections. Harrumph!" [Harrumph added by author].
Freedom isn't free, people.
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