THE VOTE

In 1914, non-native women in Montana got to vote for the very first time.  This year, we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their right to vote.  It would be six more years, 1920, before women in the rest of the nation could vote.

Women of Roundup, however, were able to vote even earlier, in 1912.  The ballot box they used could be similar to the one now on display in the Musselshell Valley Historical Museum.  It was used in 1911 in Fergus County.  That was the year Musselshell county was created from the counties of both Fergus and Yellowstone.  The ballot box is actually a heavy, leather pouch set inside a wood frame.  After the ballots were counted locally, they were shipped by train or postal service to the county seat.

Roundup women and men were voting in 1912 on an issue that seems particularly relevant today.  For April 6, 1912, a headline in the Roundup Record reads, "School Election will be held at School House [Central School] Tomorrow".  The article continues, "...The present board has decided to submit the following question to the voters of the district in the election tomorrow:  'Shall surplus school money be expended for buildings and other improvements?'  There are a number of improvements that the board wishes to make and which it is authorized to do without submitting it to a vote, but it was deemed advisable to place it before the people anyway.  There are approximately 500 voters registered for the school election, quite a large number being women."

The original Central School, the west side only, was constructed in 1911.  With the additional east side of the school completed in 1913, at least doubling the size of the building, it's probable the 1912 vote was successfully passed.