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Local News

Freeport Historical Society receives pre-1970 ballot boxes, 1976 Presidential Election ballot

Planning is under way by the Freeport Historical Society (FHS) for a celebration of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in August, 1920.

 

At the Irving Township Board meeting Wednesday, the society was presented with what will be centerpiece of that occasion; two ballot boxes that a sticker on the top on one that said it couldn’t be used after 1970 which has ballots in them, and a ballot from the 1976 presidential election.

Village Clerk Shawna Hill found the treasures behind many other things when cleaning out a storage area in the village/library.

 

It was an unexpected discovery; typically, ballots are destroyed 22 months after an election, Irving Township Clerk Sharon Olson said.

 

“The centennial of  women’s right to vote should be a big deal to all women, and we need to celebrate it with the ladies of the community with at least ‘an hour to honor’ to the courageous women what worked a 72-year fight to achieve, so we ladies can vote today,” a FHS news release said.

 

“Many women protested, picketed, and were threatened, beaten and imprisoned and some even tortured to secure their constitutional right to vote. Today only 19.6 percent of elected officials in Congress are women and during the 2016 presidential election, one in every three women eligible to vote did not cast a ballot,” the release continued.

 

The plan is for a Ladies Tea at the Community Center in Freeport on the day the amendment was ratified, Aug. 18 or the day it was signed Aug. 26,  100 years before. All ladies, groups or individuals, are welcome for an hour or two of fun, cookies and cake at a casual, fun event with lots of chit-chat, fellowship, door prizes and perhaps stories about their grandmothers voting for the first time. A surprise speaker or two may be there as well at the free event.

 

In the sample ballot that came with the donation, the presidential contenders were Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and the names of many state and local candidates are sure to bring back memories from those who are old enough to remember.

 

Photos: (upper left) (from left) Sherry Graham, vice president of FHS, Sharon Olson, clerk of Irving Township, Jon Smelker, president of FHS and Colleen Smelker, secretary of the FHS pose with the ballot boxes donated to the Society.

 

(bottom right) Sherry Graham, vice president of the FHS shows her delight with the 1976 ballot given to the Society.

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