Suffrage telegram

Texas women gained the right to vote in state primary elections on March 26, 1918. They quickly embarked on a massive recruiting effort to register women as voters before the election on July 17. In this telegram from Texas suffrage association president Minnie Fisher Cunningham to the national suffrage president, Carrie Chapman Catt, Cunningham shares the good news that 386,000 women registered to vote by the deadline.

Primary suffrage was a significant victory for women because Texas was a one-party state. Being able to vote in the Democratic primary meant women decided which candidates moved to the general election. Since the Democrats were guaranteed to win, it was nearly equivalent to full suffrage.