Mobilization

During Holcomb’s special session, the Connecticut General Assembly convened to take care of two primary points of business (1) to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment and the (2) amend the election laws so to accommodate the tens of thousands of new voters.  Voting laws were amended by extending voter registration time up to the day before the election, making Election Day (for all except those working in the voter registrar office) a holiday in Connecticut, and making polling stations open from 5:30 am to 7 pm.

                It became clear that women gaining the right to vote was a significant factor in campaigns as the large number of women voters to be mobilized to vote showed the influence they could have on the outcome.  The Republican and Democratic parties immediately started canvassing to win the women’s vote in Connecticut.  Suddenly, each party was largely pro suffrage.