WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE
This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920
that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed
nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking
for the vote.
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing
went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of
'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
(Lucy Burns)
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above
her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping
for air.
(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her
head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate,
Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging,
beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,
when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his
guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because
they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right
to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their
food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks
until word was smuggled out to the press.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf>
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because-
-why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new
movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle
these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling
booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the
actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history,
saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk
about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought
kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said.
'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use,
my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just
younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The
right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history,
social studies and government teachers would include the movie in
their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere
else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing,
but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think
a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so
hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.
History is being made.
I so whole-heartedly agree. No matter who your candidate is, no matter what your beliefs are, you can not initiate change unless you get yourself registered before the beginning of October, and then get yourself to your assigned polling place on Election Day, November 4, to cast your ballot. It's your way of telling the candidates that you support them all the way.
Not only am I registered to vote, I volunteered for my favorite candidate's campaign. We're holding our local office's grand opening tomorrow night.
This one's going to be a barn-burner, folks! It's been neck-and-neck throughout the primaries, and I can't wait to see who wins this race.
Theresa 
I just watched Mary Poppins yesterday. Remember the mom who was marching with other women to be able to vote. While I was watching it with my kids it reminded me that it really hasn't been that long that women were able to vote. Look at what these women did to pave the way for us. Incredible. They endured so much.
That's right and make sure you don't forget to put on your LIPSTICK !!!! 
I know I will be glad when this election is over. Not only all the commericals but my phone rings 3-4 times a day with recorded messages telling me to vote for this person or that person. After one day of getting 5 calls, I stopped answering the phone (this is my BUSINESS line!) and let it go to VoiceMail. When I complained to my DH he said Not only are you a woman, but you are Joe the Plumber. These candidates want us small business people to vote for them.
I hope you all did vote today...and have a blue or red martini tonight for dinner!
Yes - get out and vote today!
Then...go to Ben & Jerry's for a FREE ice cream cone tonight between 5 & 8 (I think it is). I went to my local Starbuck's this morning and they are giving FREE coffee for those who voted.
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