Celebrating the Right to Vote
In August 2020, the Oregon Women’s History Consortium(OWHC) is encouraging Oregonians to decorate their sidewalks and stairs. In 1913, sidewalk chalk messages were used by women demanding the right to vote. In 2020, we celebrate the many times when our nation has expanded the right to vote to more and more citizens. We love this idea for having fun while highlighting the importance of the vote! #ChalkTheVoteOR
This fun project fits the LWV mission!
Defending voting rights is central to the mission of the League of Women Voters: “Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.” Our democracy depends on voter participation! Let’s continue the fight to expand the right to vote and to combat voter suppression. We hope you will also speak out for voting rights with chalk messages on your sidewalk.
As the OWHC notes:
The year 2020 is the:
- 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment (removed race, color or prior servitude from denying voting rights)
- 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment (removed sex from denying voting rights)
- 56th anniversary of the 24th Amendment (ended the poll tax)
- 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (prohibited racial discrimination in voting)
- 49thanniversary of the 26th Amendment: right to vote cannot be denied on account of age for those 18 or older (This amendment has roots in an Oregon legal case, Oregon v. Mitchell, 1970)
The week for writing chalk messages is August 23-29th. August 26th is the day the 19th Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. To learn more about #ChalktheVoteOR, click here.