Women's History Month 2020: Voting in 1776: The Voting History of New Jersey Women

Sure, the US granted suffrage rights to women in 1920 with the 19th amendment. And yes, some women had voted decades previously, especially in the West. Afterall, Wyoming is the Equality State, so named because of its early acceptance of women's suffrage. But what about a state that allowed some women to vote in the 1700s? Yes, it happened but like all voting history, it's complicated. 

Bedminster Township [New Jersey] voting registers, 1797-1803, FamilySearch, Film # 007433658 Item 6, image 642.

New Jersey's 1776 constitution allowed both men and women to vote (including free blacks who met the requirements listed below). However, because of the requirements to vote and the fact that  married women's property was controlled by their husbands, not all women were eligible to vote. 

That constitution stated "all inhabitants of this colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds … and have resided within the county … for twelve months." In 1790  constitution revisions even made it more obvious with the inclusion of the words "he or she" instead of the more general "all inhabitants." [1]

However, in 1807 the definition of who could vote would be redefined and restricted to tax-paying, white male citizens. [2] So for 31 years, some women were allowed the vote and they were voting for the presidential electors.

Given that few women would have been eligible, basically non-married women, you may wonder how many actually voted. One article notes that a study of poll lists found  "163 unique women’s names, with women casting about 208 of the 2,695 documented votes. Overall, they found, about 7.7 percent of total votes recorded were cast by women — a figure that reached as high as 14 percent on some lists." [3]

So what happened? Why did women go from having the vote to not? According to this article in JSTOR Daily, that initial constitutional  inclusion of women was not by mistake. While other state constitutions purposely restricted voting to white men, politics and political party control  might have led to the the inclusion of New Jersey women. But that same politics led them to disenfranchise women just as other states disenfranchised everyone from "African Americans, aliens, and the poor."[4]

So can you find your New Jersey female ancestor in voting records? Perhaps. If she met the qualifications and you know where she lived, it may be worthwhile to peruse voter records to see if her name is listed. See the resources listed below.

Resources

FamilySearch Catalog - Search for New Jersey Voting Registers
FamilySearch Research Wiki - New Jersey Voting Registers
New Jersey State Archives Searchable Catalog - Search on "voters"
New Jersey State Archives Searchable Catalog - Search on "vote"
New Jersey State Library - Votes for Women - New Jersey Suffrage Timeline

Sources

[1] "Did You Know: Women and African Americans Could Vote in NJ before the 15th and 19th Amendments?," National Park Service (https://www.nps.gov/articles/voting-rights-in-nj-before-the-15th-and-19th.htm: accessed 2 March 2020).
[2] Ibid.
[3] "On the Trail of America’s First Women to Vote," New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/arts/first-women-voters-new-jersey.html?searchResultPosition=1: accessed 2 March 2020).
[4] "New Jersey Let (Some) Women Vote from 1776 to 1807," Daily JSTOR (https://daily.jstor.org/new-jersey-let-some-women-vote-from-1776-to-1807/: accessed 2 March 2020).