[1] In 1891, at the age of 21, Diehl campaigned with the fusion ticket slogan of "Equal rights to all, special privileges to none" and won the nomination for the People's Party of Oklahoma for the Logan County register of deeds.

[6] During the campaign the fusion ticket system was heavily criticized by the Republican newspaper the Weekly Oklahoma State Capital.

[5] Diehl's predecessor as register of deeds, Louis Laws, refused to accept the election results.

[1] The newly elected officials used dynamite to open the safe and retrieve the stolen records and seal.

[5][7] Afterward violence broke out, causing U.S. Marshall William C. Grimes and Sheriff John W. Hixon to intervene.

[1] After the records were forcibly recovered and the violence had settled, Laws continued his campaign to remain in office.

While two of the three claimants to her office were of her own party, Diehl maintained support of portions of the party, with the Logan County Spring Valley Township Farmer's Alliance writing "we nominated and elected Cora Diehl (not as an ornament to grace the ticket) but a young woman having the necessary qualifications to fill the office by virtue of her ability and experience.

[1] Justice John C. Clark held that Diehl was "qualified" and "duly elected" in an opinion issued in January 1892.

The dispute again reached the territorial supreme court with the case Commissioners of Logan County v. Harvey, where Justice Bierer found that the bond was extorted from Diehl and therefore void.

[14][15] In September 1914, it was reported that the IBWA was presenting a play written by Diehl with the proceeds going towards establishing an employment bureau in Philadelphia.

[16] By the 1910s Diehl's rhetoric took a more socialist and revolutionary turn, putting her at odds with the moderate faction of the organization.