The 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and women’s constitutional right to vote occurs this August. The Amendment declared that “[t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” U.S. Const. amend. XIX. Congress passed the 19th Amendment in June 1919, but it took months for ratification to be completed. Wisconsin was the first state to ratify on June 10, 1919. West Virginia ratified the Amendment on March 10, 1920. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state, meeting the minimum number of states required to ratify the Amendment, and the Amendment was certified on August 26, 1920.

Originally published in The Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia Defender - 2020.