The Territory of Wyoming opened its polls to women in 1869, a half century before the 19th Amendment was ratified. As the territory sought statehood, Wyoming’s women fought to protect their voting rights.
This telegram from the governor to Mary Holmes, president of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association, confirms their success – that Wyoming adopted a constitution containing equal rights for men and women. Wyoming entered the union in 1890, and for the first time since New Jersey disfranchised women in 1807, women in a U.S. state enjoyed full voting rights.
