Oregon Equal Suffrage Amendment

[1] In 1900, the Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association urged the approval of the 1900 effort to ratify the amendment.

[5] When the initiative was ratified in 1912, Oregon became the seventh state to extend the right to vote to women.

[7] In March 1915, the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger honored three early women in public service in Oregon, in the wake of the passage of the equal suffrage amendment: Fern Hobbs (left) was private secretary to Governor Oswald West, and was later appointed by him to the newly-established State Industrial Accident Commission.

Kathryn Clarke (center), was appointed to a vacancy in the State Senate by West.

Due to doubts about the legality of the appointment, Clarke insisted on a special election, in which she defeated two male opponents.