On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. After a battle in the Tennessee House, which was lead by an anti-suffragist leader, two members changed their votes at the last minute.
Although people in the United States tout the “right to vote,” suffrage has been a long and difficult fight since before the signing of the Constitution. It did not end with the 19th Amendment as its text did not eliminate the discrimination based on race.
The fight for the “right” continues today. Reduced access to polls, including the closing of precincts in minority districts and hindering the Postal Service’s ability to handle ballots, infringe on everyone’s suffrage rights.
The commemorative coin reflects the history of the movement by depicting women wearing different hat styles during the thick of the fight. The movement started to gain momentum in the 1870s when states and territories in the West allowed women to vote. The first attempt to pass an amendment for suffrage began in 1878, where the depiction of the commemorative coin begins.
On the reverse is a depiction of a ballot box. The box has an art deco design with the centennial anniversary year looming large as it is descending into the ballot box.
The coin was designed by Christina Hess, a member of the Artistic Infusion Program and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill. The dollar coin is .999 silver with a mintage limit of 400,000. The sale of each coin includes a $10 surcharge paid to the Smithsonian Institution’s American Women’s History Initiative.
It is an excellent design to depict the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Although I am not a collector of commemorative coins, this may be one that I will add to the coins I collect because the design is worthy of collecting.
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Scott
I respect your point of view, but I agree with President Trump. Voting should be done primarily in person as it has been.
This country is overreacting on the Covid issue. The media announced that 5 million Americans have had Covid. But, they didn’t tell that there are well over 300 million Americans. So, less than 2% of all Americans have had Covid. I support mask wearing, but this country is overreacting lead by a news media that loves sensationalism and politicians who now have an excuse to get their faces on tv every day regardless of how boring they are.
Regarding the post office, it is runned in as much of an anachronistic manner as numismatic shows are. The shows are protected by old fogies running numismatic organizations and the post office is protected by politicians who owe their soul to public employee unions.
Sincerely.
Bob
All I will say is that I had relatives who died because of the virus. One had it and the other had an emergency at the height and stayed away from the hospital in fear. Both were buried without a funeral and giving the family a chance to grieve properly. This shapes my views on the situation.
Scott,
As you may or may not know, I spent four years as a Pennsylvania County Election Director. None of the access issues you claim are widespread. In fact, in my county, it was the urban precincts in which minorities lived that had the BEST access, with the SHORTEST lines, and the wealthier suburban and rural districts stood in line for hours. One rural precinct was still voting at 2AM. Our appellate courts had forced us to not create new precincts.
Pennsylvania has no infrastructure to handle massive numbers of mail-in ballots. Our state constitution requires that all absentee ballots be counted at the individual polls, after the polls close, to prevent double voting in person and by mail. So our legislature got “cute” and said, “No, a mail-in ballot isn’t an absentee ballot, so you can process a mail-in centrally”. Guess what gets lost in the shuffle. Yup, the ONLY method of preventing double voting. The President is correct.
Want to know where this was where I served? Find Lancaster, then find Allentown. The county in between.
My comment was in general and not directed to Pennsylvania. We’ve seen examples of the problems on the television news. Those are the areas of the country which I refer to.
Yes, I’ve seen stories in Ohio some time ago and I think it was either Michigan or Maryland more recently. I don’t envy my successors trying to fill precinct worker positions during the pandemic. Those who do those jobs under these circumstances deserve medals.