Who Can Vote?
By D. A. Sharpe
Any citizen of the
United States may register to vote through the County Government Office of the
county in which he or she lives. It
must be where you live and not, for example, where you are employed. You might live in Wise County, but your
job is in Denton County. You are a
Wise County voter. The Voter Registration process requires you to cite a physical residential
location. You may not use, for
example, a Post Office Box number.
In general, itÕs the residential location allowed on your Texas DriverÕs
License.
To register to vote, you
must be aged at least 17 years and 10 months old, and be at least age 18 on
Election Day.
That also means you may
file as a candidate for election to a county office only in your county of
residence, where you are a registered voter. In most states, that candidacy
filing is with the Chair of the political party in whose Primary Election the
candidate wishes to run. That is
the process in Texas.
In the
beginning years of the government of the United States, only males were
registered to vote. On May 21,
1919, U.S. Representative James R. Mann (1856-1922), a Republican from Illinois
and chairman of the Suffrage Committee, proposed the House resolution to
approve the Susan Anthony Amendment granting women the right to vote. The
measure passed the House 304-89Ńa full 42 votes above the required two-thirds
majority.
On June 19, 1919, the
whole Congress of the United States, including the Senate, passed the proposal
of the 19th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution which would allow
women to register to vote. Such
proposal required the concurrence of the majority members in state legislatures
of at least 2/3Õs of the states.
The deciding vote came with the State of Tennessee Legislature approval,
made by a 1 count deciding vote cast by 23-year old Representative Harry T. Burn,
a Republican from McMinn County.
Wyoming became the first
state to grant voting rights to women.
It also was the first state to elect a female governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross
(1876 Š 1977) in 1924. This is
a reason the state nickname for Wyoming is the ŅEquality State.Ó Gov. Ross subsequent served as the first
female Direct of the United States Mint, 1933 Š 1953.
Congress later
established August 26 as the annual recognition of WomenÕs Equality Day.
If you want to verify
your Texas VoterÕs Registration status, this
is the website to determine such.
Composed by
805
Derting Road East
Aurora,
TX 76078-3712
817-504-6508