Countdown to the November 8th Day of Jubilation - Part 9
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In 1884, after being convicted of running "a house of ill fame” in Spokane, Ms. Mollie Rosencrantz appealed to the Territorial Supreme Court on the grounds that she was convicted by a jury with women on it. She argued that women did not have the right to sit on juries and might hold a bias in her case. In light of the women's suffrage law passed the previous year, the Territorial Supreme Court ruled that women also had the right to sit on juries – a victory for the women’s suffrage movement...but less so for Ms. Rosencrantz.
In light of the confusion over the wording of the 1883 women's suffrage law, the Territorial Legislature "clarified” the wording of the elections law to state “Words used in this act, and the act hereby amended, indicating persons of masculine gender, shall be construed to include persons of feminine gender.” Therefore, women could vote. The legislation was signed into law on November 26, 1886 by Governor Watson Squire.
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Secretary of State
Steve Hobbs
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