The Bothell Historical Museum will have a banner in the 4th of July parade urging people to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the right for women to vote.

Most people do not realize that Washington state granted women the right to vote 10 years before the 19th Amendment went into effect for national elections in 1920. It was a hard-fought battle to pass the bill. The Museum of History and Industry (MOHI) will host the exhibit of political posters and propaganda from the campaign. A lot of them are really funny now, but it is obvious that it was a bitter fight at times.

Washington state has some very interesting numbers for women in politics:

• There have been 38 women in the United States Senate. Two of them are from our state. One of them, Sen. Patty Murray, is from Bothell.
• There have been 31 women state governors. Washington state has had two women governors and both were elected to two terms. Washington state currently has two national senators and a woman governor.
• Thirty-two percent of the current Washington state Legislature are women. Nationally, the average is 24 percent.
• Women are elected to every level of local political boards and councils. Bothell has had a women mayor and several women on the city council.

We owe a lot to those men and women who campaigned for voting equality. Read about their fight, look it up on the Web, go see the MOHI exhibit, see the Book It production of “Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices.” Come see the way women lived and dressed and worked and played when the Bothell Historical Museum reopens after construction is completed at Bothell Landing.

Have fun celebrating our democracy and don’t forget how important your vote is.

Mary Farley