October 1920: Celebrating the Centennial of Women's Suffrage

Whether a woman could vote was directly tied to the status of her closest male relative. This was generally her father or her husband, even if they'd already passed away. If the father or husband was native born, or had been naturalized, the woman could register, provided she met the other criteria. It was possible that a woman who had been here a short time, but had married a citizen, could vote before a woman who immigrated earlier, but did not have a father or husband with citizenship. What if the woman was native born, but married a non-citizen? The Hartford registrars faced this on at least one occasion.

(Click image to enlarge)