Richardson [County?] car ready for [a suffrage] parade. Blair, Nebraska, July, 1914. Source — NSHS, RG1073 S6 F2 B1.

After decades of parades, debates and rallies, the Nebraska legislature surprised both suffragists and anti-suffragists alike by passing a limited suffrage act in 1917. Gov. Keith Neville signed the act on April 21, 1917. Under the terms of the new law, women could vote in municipal (city) elections and for presidential electors. This was not full voting privileges because women could still not vote for statewide offices, but it was the most that could be done without amending the Constitution. Three years before, a suffrage amendment had failed by 10,000 votes.

Nebraska was one of the last western states to allow women to vote. Wyoming had led the nation. In 1869, while it was still a territory, Wyoming gave women the vote in all elections. By 1918, 13 of the 17 states west of the Missouri River allowed women to vote. Nationally, a proposed constitutional amendment allowing women to vote in all elections in the United States had been introduced in Congress.

State Sen. John Mattes, Nebraska City. Source — NSHS, RG2141-1445a.

But opposition was still strong. The Nebraska limited suffrage bill had nearly been defeated by a German-American coalition led by Senator John Mattes of Nebraska City. He was the owner and founder of Mattes' Brewery. Once again, the close connection between anti-suffragists and anti-prohibitionists played a major part in the debate.

The 1917 suffrage bill was a major breakthrough after decades of frustration and defeat. While the bill did not allow women to vote for most state officers, suffragists were optimistic that the remaining constitutional barriers to full voting privileges would soon be eliminated. But, the sunny climate of optimism was soon invaded by a chill. A referendum petition drive was organized to overturn the new, limited suffrage law.

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