Momma knows best

Go vote

Momma knows best

Story by Jessie Tremmel, Op/Ed Editor

The 19th Amendment hit the books in 1920 after over 50 years of suffrage campaigning. To pass the 19th Amendment on to the U.S. Constitution, 36 states needed to ratify the measure.

I don’t really care whom you vote for, as long as you vote.  There are too many years of struggle in the past to miss the opportunity to exercise my rights as a United States citizen.

In Tennessee, there had been a stalemate, a 48-48 tie in the state legislation. The day of the ratification vote, 24-year-old Henry Burn, the youngest member of the state legislation, got a letter from his mother encouraging him to “be a good boy,” and “vote for suffrage.”

Still wearing his red boutonniere, which signified opposition to the 19th Amendment, he replied “aye,” making Tennessee the 36th state to ratify the amendment and giving women in America the right to vote.

I am not a political person. I do not follow politics. Heck, I got a C in U.S. politics freshman year. That doesn’t mean that I am not an active voter.

I do my research and decide which candidate’s ideas align best with my ideas. I would encourage you to do the same before heading to the polls tomorrow. Go connect the arrows and remember all the suffragists who picketed relentlessly for the right of women to vote.