Women’s Equality Day is celebrated annually to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the 19th Amendment, which prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. Nationally, Women’s Equality Day is August 26. Although the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote, we’d be remiss not to acknowledge that discriminatory laws in many states kept black women, indigenous women and many other women of color from voting until the passage of the voting rights act in 1965.
Women’s Equality Day was first celebrated in 1971, designated by Congress in 1973, and is proclaimed each year by the United States President. In 1971, following the 1970 nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality, and again in 1973, as the battles over the Equal Rights Amendment continued, Congresswoman Bella Abzug of New York introduced a resolution to designate August 26 as Women’s Equality Day.
This special presentation on voting rights will take a look at the current state of voting rights for men and women and what we can do to move forward. Join us on Thursday August 24 at 1:00 pm for a one hour presentation by Julie Marcus, Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, who personally understands what it takes to ensure everyone has their voting rights.
Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus has dedicated her career to ensuring equal access to voter registration and ballots and transparency of the electoral process. Over her 18-year career with the Supervisor of Elections, Marcus has administered more than 300 municipal elections, 25 countywide elections, conducted dozens of machine recounts, manual recounts and post-election manual audits and implemented two new voting systems.
Upper Keys Business and Professional Women's Club is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization. P.O. Box 231, Tavernier, FL 33070