The League of Women Voters has always worked to promote the values and processes of representative government and worked to protect fundamental citizen rights and individual liberties. During the month of May the League celebrates the importance of fair and impartial laws and why every vote matters to the people of Montgomery County.
Law Day, held in early May, is set aside to celebrate the rule of law and provides an opportunity to understand how law and legal process protect our liberty, strive to achieve justice and contribute to the freedoms that all Americans share.
Law Day was created in 1958 by the American Bar Association and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The League of Women Voters is a longtime cooperating partner. Every year, through educational programs nationwide, Leagues and other organizations help underscore how law and the legal process have contributed to the freedoms that all Americans share.
The 2020 theme for Law Day is “Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Democracy: The 19th Amendment at 100 year’s” which aligns with the Library of Congress exhibition “Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote.” Pamela Robert, chair of Law Day 2020, states, “This year, the Law Day theme calls us to remember the long and sometime uncertain road the nation has taken in expanding democracy.”
The LWV of Montgomery County exhibit “We the People, Me the Person: An Overview and Celebration of our American Democracy” opened at the Crawfordsville Carnegie Museum of History on Feb. 27.
The LWV believes the rule of law depends on public trust in the courts, and the right of every citizen to vote has been a basic League principle since its origin in 1920. The 19th Amendment was a milestone in expanding voting rights, but women of color have yet to be fully franchised so here even 100 years later, the 19th Amendment is still a work in progress.
The U.S. Constitution gives states the power to regulate elections and voting requirements. In the beginning, many states established voting requirements around property ownership which limited who could vote. In 1869, Congress passed the 15th Amendment to U.S. Constitution which prohibits denying citizens the right to vote “on the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude.”
It took 72 years from the 1848 Seneca Falls first Women Rights Convention until 1920 for women to gain the right to vote when the 19th Amendment was ratified. In 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act declared all Native Americans in the United Sates were citizens and have the right to vote. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making it illegal to discriminate on basis of race, national origin, religion and gender in voting, public places, workplace and schools. The 26th Amendment in 1971 lowered the voting age to 18.
Let us remember those who have worked so hard to assure all American have the right to vote and pledge to vote in the June 2 Primary and November General Election.
The League of Women Voters, open to men as well as women, is a nonpartisan, multi-issue political organization which encourages informed and active participation in government. For information about the LWV, visit the website at www.lwvmontcoin.org or send a message to LWV, P.O. Box 101, Crawfordsville, IN 47933.
