It was November 2, 1920, and all across the nation for the first time men and women were gathered together outside of their designated polling stations waiting to cast their votes for the President of the United States and the Senate. Headlines like, “Vote Today,” were printed across the front pages of newspapers across the nation and in Connecticut. Journalists jumped on the chance to record this day in history. One outlet, The Danbury News Times reported on the remarkability of the women to figure out the polls.
The weather in Danbury did not reflect the joyous moods of women at polling stations. Heavy rain was accompanied by forty mile per hour winds. Men and women faced the treacherous weather even given the state holiday off from work for the chance to vote. There, voter registry logs recorded peoples’ names of each district at each polling station, to keep track of who participated as the day went on. These voter registry books were merely useful tools of the day; however now they represent something more, they represent part of the nation’s progressive histories.
