The First American Woman To Vote

Louisa Swain

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution secured women the right to vote in 1920. But, half a century earlier, in 1870, a woman actually cast a ballot in an American election for the first time. That’s because in 1869, the territorial legislature of Wyoming passed a law giving women the right to vote. And, on December 10th of that year, territorial Gov. John Campbell signed the bill into law. 

Then, on September 6, 1870—almost exactly 156 years ago—70-year-old Louisa Swain of Laramie, Wyoming cast the first official documented vote by a woman in the United States. She almost missed the honor, but she beat 27-year-old Augusta Howe by just a half an hour. Technically, Swain was likely the first woman in the entire world to cast a ballot under a specific law granting women full political equality with men. 

Wyoming was also the first to elect a woman governor and the first to appoint a woman to public office. In 1890, Wyoming was “invited” to join the Union—but only if their women’s suffrage law was repealed. The legislature responded with this formal statement: “We will remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women.” They got their way, and Wyoming was admitted as the 44th state in 1890, with their women’s voting law intact and in place. 

So, there’s good reason why Wyoming is nicknamed “The Equality State”—it beat the rest of the country to women’s voting rights by a full 50 years.