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| Prohibition | ||
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| Extension of franchise to women | ||
Two referendums were held in British Columbia on September 14, 1916, alongside general elections. In them, the voters approved Acts of the British Columbia Legislature that introduced prohibition and women's suffrage.
The issues of prohibition and women's suffrage dominated much of the final session of the Legislative Assembly before the election. A Prohibition bill with a referendum clause was promised in the Speech from the Throne in March, [1] which was supported by Liberal leader Harlan Brewster in a speech to a prohibition delegation in February. [1] The bill received royal assent on May 31, [2] and was scheduled to come into force on July 1, 1917, upon approval by the voters. [3] In the campaign, the majority of the prohibitionist supporters were also Liberals. [4]
A suffrage bill had been defeated earlier in the session, [5] and Premier Bowser opted to take that issue to the voters as well. [6] It was scheduled to become effective on January 1, 1917, upon approval in the referendum. [7] The move to submit the issues to the voters was seen as a tactic by Premier Bowser to sideline it from the election, [8] but it was contested by many women as being unfair to have the decision made solely by male voters. [8]
Implementing legislation was also enacted to provide for the operation of the referendums. [9] The extension of the franchise to soldiers stationed overseas for the election also applied for these votes. [10]
The question posed was, "Are you in favour of bringing the British Columbia Prohibition Act in force?" [11]
The votes from the overseas soldiers had initially caused the referendum to be defeated by 822 votes. A Prohibition convention held in March 1917 called for the measure to be passed anyway, despite the overseas vote. [12] Incoming Premier Brewster promised to do so, should irregularities be proved to have occurred. [12]
A commission of inquiry was appointed to investigate allegations of voting irregularities, [13] and it determined that all ballots cast after Election Day must be disregarded. [11] The commissioners reported that "grave frauds and irregularities were committed, and that the regulations laid down for the taking of the vote were in many instances not observed." [14] As a result, an Act was passed by the Legislature, providing that Prohibition would come into effect on October 1, 1917. [15]
| Choice | Votes on initial count | Votes disregarded later | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civilian | Soldiers (Canada) | Soldiers (Overseas) | Total | % | # | Net | Net % | |
| Yes | 36,490 | 3,353 | 2,893 | 42,736 | 49.52 | (832) | 41,904 | 53.72 |
| No | 27,217 | 3,622 | 12,719 | 43,558 | 50.47 | (7,456) | 36,102 | 46.28 |
| Total | 63,707 | 6,975 | 15,612 | 86,294 | 100.00 | (8,288) | 78,006 | 100.00 |
| Majority | 9,273 | (269) | (9,826) | (822) | (0.95) | 6,624 | 5,802 | 7.44 |
The question posed was, "Are you in favour of the extension of the electoral franchise to women?" [17]
Unlike the prohibition referendum, the votes from soldiers overseas were not disregarded.
The initial 1916 suffrage Act was repealed and replaced by a broader amendment to the Provincial Elections Act, effective April 5, 1917, which also allowed women to become MLAs. [18] [19]
| Choice | Votes | % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civilian | Soldiers (Canada) | Soldiers (Overseas) | Total | ||
| Yes | 43,160 | 3,976 | 8,498 | 55,634 | 65.86 |
| No | 19,962 | 2,314 | 6,561 | 28,837 | 34.14 |
| Total | 63,122 | 6,290 | 15,059 | 84,471 | 100.00 |
| Majority | 23,198 | 1,662 | 1,937 | 26,797 | 31.72 |
National referendums are seldom used in Canada. The first two referendums in 1898 and 1942 saw voters in Quebec and the remainder of Canada take dramatically-opposing stands, and the third in 1992 saw most of the voters take a stand dramatically opposed to that of the politicians in power.
In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a public vote in the legislature in what is called indirect initiative, or under direct initiative, where the proposition is put to a plebiscite or referendum, in what is called a Popular initiated Referendum or citizen-initiated referendum.
William John Bowser was a politician in British Columbia, Canada. He served as the 17th premier of British Columbia from 1915 to 1916.
The 1916 British Columbia general election was the fourteenth general election for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on July 5, 1916, and held on September 14, 1916. The new legislature met for the first time on March 1, 1917.
The 1919 Ontario general election, held on October 20, 1919, elected 111 Members of the 15th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs"). The United Farmers of Ontario captured the most seats but only a minority of the legislature. They joined with 11 Labour MPPs and three others to form a coalition government, ending the 14-year rule of Ontario's Conservatives. This is one of the few examples of coalition government in Canadian history.
Elections BC is a non-partisan office of the British Columbia legislature responsible for conducting provincial and local elections, by-elections, petitions, referendums, plebiscites in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its federal equivalent is Elections Canada.
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The British Columbia Recall and Initiative Referendum was a referendum held in British Columbia on October 17, 1991. It was concurrent with that year's general election. The referendum posed two questions. They were on whether elected officials should be able to be recalled and whether voters should be given a citizen's initiative. Both questions were decisively approved with over 80% of the electorate voting yes to both questions.
Canadian liquor plebiscites, held in 1920 under the Canada Temperance Act and the Dominion Elections Act, were referendums on the strengthening of the Prohibition measures in effect in several provinces of Canada. Voters were asked if they supported banning of importation of liquor across provincial boundaries. The referendums were held on July 10, 1920, in New Brunswick; on October 20 in British Columbia; and on October 25 in Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan.
The 1915 Alberta liquor plebiscite was the first plebiscite to ask voters in Alberta whether the province should implement prohibition by ratifying the proposed Liquor Act. The plebiscite was the culmination of years of lobbying by the province's temperance movements and agricultural groups, and was proposed through the recently implemented form of direct democracy, the Direct Legislation Act. Alberta voters approved the plebiscite on prohibition, which was implemented eleven months after the vote. The June 21, 1915 plebiscite was the first of three province-wide plebiscites held in a seven year period related to liquor in Alberta.
Women's suffrage was established in the United States on a full or partial basis by various towns, counties, states and territories during the latter decades of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century. As women received the right to vote in some places, they began running for public office and gaining positions as school board members, county clerks, state legislators, judges, and, in the case of Jeannette Rankin, as a member of Congress.
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A referendum on electoral reform took place by mail-in ballot between October 22 and December 7, 2018, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. 61.3 percent of voters supported maintaining the first-past-the-post voting system rather than switching to a proportional representation voting system, which was supported by 38.7 percent of voters. This was British Columbia's third referendum on electoral reform, following ones in 2005 and 2009.
Women's suffrage in Ohio was an ongoing fight with some small victories along the way. Women's rights issues in Ohio were put into the public eye in the early 1850s. Women inspired by the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention created newspapers and then set up their own conventions, including the 1950 Ohio Women's Rights Convention which was the first women's right's convention outside of New York and the first that was planned and run solely by women. These early efforts towards women's suffrage affected people in other states and helped energize the women's suffrage movement in Ohio. Women's rights groups formed throughout the state, with the Ohio Women's Rights Association (OWRA) founded in 1853. Other local women's suffrage groups are formed in the late 1860s. In 1894, women won the right to vote in school board elections in Ohio. The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was headquartered for a time in Warren, Ohio. Two efforts to vote on a constitutional amendment, one in 1912 and the other 1914 were unsuccessful, but drew national attention to women's suffrage. In 1916, women in East Cleveland gained the right to vote in municipal elections. A year later, women in Lakewood, Ohio and Columbus were given the right to vote in municipal elections. Also in 1917, the Reynolds Bill, which would allow women to vote in the next presidential election was passed, and then quickly repealed by a voter referendum sponsored by special-interest groups. On June 16, 1919, Ohio became the fifth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.
While women's suffrage in Maine had an early start, dating back to the 1850s, it was a long, slow road to equal suffrage. Early suffragists brought speakers Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone to the state in the mid-1850s. Ann F. Jarvis Greely and other women in Ellsworth, Maine, created a women's rights lecture series in 1857. The first women's suffrage petition to the Maine Legislature was also sent that year. Working-class women began marching for women's suffrage in the 1860s. The Snow sisters created the first Maine women's suffrage organization, the Equal Rights Association of Rockland, in 1868. In the 1870s, a state suffrage organization, the Maine Women's Suffrage Association (MWSA), was formed. Many petitions for women's suffrage were sent to the state legislature. MWSA and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) of Maine worked closely together on suffrage issues. By the late 1880s the state legislature was considering several women's suffrage bills. While women's suffrage did not pass, during the 1890s many women's rights laws were secured. During the 1900s, suffragists in Maine continued to campaign and lecture on women's suffrage. Several suffrage organizations including a Maine chapter of the College Equal Suffrage League and the Men's Equal Rights League were formed in the 1910s. Florence Brooks Whitehouse started the Maine chapter of the National Woman's Party (NWP) in 1915. Suffragists and other clubwomen worked together on a large campaign for a 1917 voter referendum on women's suffrage. Despite the efforts of women around the state, women's suffrage failed. Going into the next few years, a women's suffrage referendum on voting in presidential elections was placed on the September 13, 1920 ballot. But before that vote, Maine ratified the Nineteenth Amendment on November 5, 1920. It was the nineteenth state to ratify. A few weeks after ratification, MWSA dissolved and formed the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Maine. White women first voted in Maine on September 13, 1920. Native Americans in Maine had to wait longer to vote. In 1924, they became citizens of the United States. However, Maine would not allow individuals living on Indian reservations to vote. It was not until the passage of a 1954 equal rights referendum that Native Americans gained the right to vote in Maine. In 1955 Lucy Nicolar Poolaw (Penobscot) was the first Native American living on a reservation in Maine to cast a vote.
Women's suffrage in South Dakota started when it was part of Dakota Territory. Prior to 1889, it had a shared women's suffrage history with North Dakota. While South Dakota was part of the territory, women earned the right to vote on school related issues. They retained this right after it became a separate state. The state constitution specified that there would be a women's suffrage amendment referendum in 1890. Despite a large campaign that included Susan B. Anthony and a state suffrage group, the South Dakota Equal Suffrage Association (SDESA), the referendum failed. The state legislature passed additional suffrage referendums over the years, but each was voted down until 1918. South Dakota was an early ratifier of the Nineteenth Amendment, which was approved during a special midnight legislative session on December 4, 1919.
Women's suffrage in Iowa efforts began early in Iowa's history. During the territory's Constitutional Convention, discussions on both African American and women's suffrage took place. Early on, women's rights were discussed in the state by women such as Amelia Bloomer and petitions for suffrage were sent to the Iowa state legislature. While African American men earned the right to vote in 1868, women from all backgrounds had to continue to agitate for enfranchisement. One of the first suffrage groups was formed in Dubuque in 1869. Not long after, a state suffrage convention was held in Mount Pleasant in 1870. Iowa suffragists focused on organizing and lobbying the state legislature. In 1894, women gained the right to vote on municipal bond and tax issues and also in school elections. These rights were immediately utilized by women who turned out in good numbers to vote on these issues. By the 1910s, the state legislature finally passed in successive sessions a women's suffrage amendment to the state constitution. This resulted in a voter referendum to be held on the issue on June 5, 1916. The campaign included anti-suffrage agitation from liquor interests who claimed that women's suffrage would cause higher taxes. The amendment was defeated, though a subsequent investigation turned up a large amount of fraud. However, the election could not be invalidated and women had to wait to vote. On July 2, 1919, Iowa became the tenth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.
This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Iowa. Women's suffrage work started early in Iowa's history. Organizing began in the late 1960s with the first state suffrage convention taking place in 1870. In the 1890s, women gained the right to vote on municipal bonds, tax efforts and school-related issues. By 1916, a state suffrage amendment went to out to a voter referendum, which unfortunately failed. Iowa was the tenth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.
| General elections | |
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| Municipal elections | |
| Referendums | |
See also: List of British Columbia by-elections | |
