19th Amendment and Women's Right to Vote

What Is the 19th Amendment

The 19th Amendment is the part of the Constitution that bars the federal government and every state from denying citizens the vote because of their sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it, and certified eight days later. It is the reason no state can hold a men-only election, though it did not stop states from shutting women out in other ways.

The 19th is one of several amendments about who can vote, along with the 15th, 24th and 26th. See them all in our guide to the 27 constitutional amendments.

When Women Got the Right to Vote in America

Women across the United States won the right to vote on August 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment. It was certified eight days later, on August 26, 1920. Some women already had the vote before then: nine western states had adopted woman suffrage by 1912 (National Archives).

For many women the real date came much later. Black, Native American and Asian American women were kept from the polls for decades after 1920 by poll taxes, literacy tests and citizenship laws, as the section on who was left out shows year by year.

Which Amendment Gave Women the Right to Vote

The 19th Amendment is the one that secured women’s right to vote. It bars the United States and every state from denying or abridging the vote “on account of sex.” Congress sent it to the states on June 4, 1919, after the House vote of 304 to 89, and the states ratified it in August 1920 (House Historian).

How the 19th Amendment Passed

The amendment Congress passed in 1919 had first been introduced in 1878. The fight began at the first women’s rights convention, held at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19 and 20, 1848, where 68 women and 32 men signed the Declaration of Sentiments (National Park Service). The amendment reached Congress in 1878 and took 41 years to pass both houses. Nine western states gave women the vote by 1912, New York followed in 1917, and President Woodrow Wilson came out for the amendment in 1918 (National Archives). The House passed it on May 21, 1919, and the Senate on June 4.

1. 1848 Seneca Falls convention
2. 1878 Suffrage amendment introduced
3. 1912 Nine western states let women vote
4. 1917 New York lets women vote
5. May 1919 House passes the amendment
6. Jun 1919 Senate passes the amendment
7. Aug 1920 Tennessee ratifies; the amendment is law

From Seneca Falls to the Constitution, 1848-1920: 1848: Seneca Falls convention (The first women’s rights convention meets in New York.). 1878: Suffrage amendment introduced (The text that became the 19th Amendment reaches Congress.). 1912: Nine western states let women vote (The vote spreads state by state before it goes national.). 1917: New York lets women vote (The largest state joins, and the politics shift.). May 1919: House passes the amendment (304 to 89.). Jun 1919: Senate passes the amendment (56 to 25, with four votes to spare.). Aug 1920: Tennessee ratifies; the amendment is law (The 36th state completes ratification; certified August 26.).

1848: The Seneca Falls convention put women’s rights, including the vote, on a public agenda.

1878: The suffrage amendment was first introduced in Congress. It would take 41 years to pass both houses.

1912: Nine western states had adopted woman suffrage, state by state (National Archives).

1917: New York let women vote, and President Wilson backed the amendment the next year.

1919: The House passed the amendment on May 21 by 304 to 89. The Senate passed it on June 4 by 56 to 25, four votes more than the two-thirds it needed (House Historian).

1920: Tennessee ratified on August 18, 1920, the 36th of the 48 states, and Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the amendment on August 26, 1920.

Which States Ratified the 19th Amendment, and When

36 of the 48 states approved the amendment by August 1920, and the rest took up to 64 more years. The holdouts were almost all in the South, and 8 legislatures voted the amendment down before they later approved it. Their later votes changed nothing in law, since the amendment bound every state from the day it was certified.

When the state ratified

• Before Tennessee, 1919-1920 (35 states)
• Tennessee, the 36th state (August 18, 1920)
• Soon after, 1920-1923 (3 states)
• Decades later, 1941-1984 (9 states)
• Not a state in 1920

Sources: Constitution Annotated (2017 edition), note on the Nineteenth Amendment, for dates through 1921 and the rejections; National Park Service, 19th Amendment by State, for later ratifications and Delaware's rejection.

When each state ratified the 19th Amendment

State	Ratified	Note
Illinois	June 10, 1919	Readopted its resolution June 17, 1919.
Michigan	June 10, 1919	—
Wisconsin	June 10, 1919	—
Kansas	June 16, 1919	—
New York	June 16, 1919	—
Ohio	June 16, 1919	—
Pennsylvania	June 24, 1919	—
Massachusetts	June 25, 1919	—
Texas	June 28, 1919	—
Iowa	July 2, 1919	Date the governor approved it.
Missouri	July 3, 1919	—
Arkansas	July 28, 1919	—
Montana	August 2, 1919	Date the governor approved it.
Nebraska	August 2, 1919	—
Minnesota	September 8, 1919	—
New Hampshire	September 10, 1919	Date the governor approved it.
Utah	October 2, 1919	—
California	November 1, 1919	—
Maine	November 5, 1919	—
North Dakota	December 1, 1919	—
South Dakota	December 4, 1919	Date the state certified it.
Colorado	December 15, 1919	Date the governor approved it.
Kentucky	January 6, 1920	—
Rhode Island	January 6, 1920	—
Oregon	January 13, 1920	—
Indiana	January 16, 1920	—
Wyoming	January 27, 1920	—
Nevada	February 7, 1920	—
New Jersey	February 9, 1920	—
Idaho	February 11, 1920	—
Arizona	February 12, 1920	—
New Mexico	February 21, 1920	Date the governor approved it.
Oklahoma	February 28, 1920	—
West Virginia	March 10, 1920	Confirmed September 21, 1920.
Washington	March 22, 1920	—
Tennessee	August 18, 1920	The 36th state. Its vote completed ratification.
Connecticut	September 14, 1920	Ratified after the amendment was certified.
Vermont	February 8, 1921	—
Delaware	March 6, 1923	—
Maryland	March 29, 1941	—
Virginia	February 12, 1952	—
Alabama	September 8, 1953	—
Florida	May 13, 1969	—
South Carolina	July 1, 1969	—
Georgia	February 20, 1970	—
Louisiana	June 11, 1970	—
North Carolina	May 6, 1971	—
Mississippi	March 22, 1984	The last state to ratify.
Alaska	—	The territory gave white women the vote in 1913.
Hawaii	—	—
District of Columbia	—	—

The late ratifications came in two waves. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Alabama signed on between 1923 and 1953. Five more, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana and North Carolina, waited until 1969 to 1971, after the Voting Rights Act. Mississippi voted it down on March 29, 1920, and approved it on March 22, 1984.

The Women the 19th Amendment Left Out

The amendment banned one reason for turning a voter away, her sex, and left every other reason standing. States kept poll taxes, literacy tests and residency rules, and federal law still barred many women from citizenship. Millions of women voted for the first time in November 1920 (House Historian), and many others waited decades.

Fannie Lou Hamer’s story shows what that meant in Mississippi. In August 1962, she and 17 other people from Sunflower County rode a bus from Ruleville to the courthouse in Indianola to register. Afterward, the plantation owner told her to withdraw her application or be evicted. She refused and was put off the land at once, and white men later fired 16 shots into the house where she was staying (SNCC Digital Gateway).

The barriers fell one at a time between 1922 and 1975, each by its own law or ruling. The chart starts every bar in 1920, when the amendment took effect, and ends it when the named barrier fell.

1. U.S.-born women married to noncitizen men 1920–1922
2. Native American women (citizenship) 1920–1924
3. Chinese immigrant women 1920–1943
4. Native American women in Arizona and New Mexico 1920–1948
5. All Asian immigrant women 1920–1952
6. Native American women in Utah 1920–1957
7. Black women in the Jim Crow South 1920–1965
8. Women who read little or no English 1920–1975

19401960198020002020

How long after 1920 each group of women waited for the barrier against them to fall

Item	Began	Ended	Length
U.S.-born women married to noncitizen men	August 26, 1920	1922	1 year
Native American women (citizenship)	August 26, 1920	1924	3 years
Chinese immigrant women	August 26, 1920	1943	22 years
Native American women in Arizona and New Mexico	August 26, 1920	1948	27 years
All Asian immigrant women	August 26, 1920	1952	31 years
Native American women in Utah	August 26, 1920	1957	36 years
Black women in the Jim Crow South	August 26, 1920	1965	44 years
Women who read little or no English	August 26, 1920	1975	54 years

Bars end in the year the named barrier fell, which is not always the day a woman could vote. Sources: National Archives (Prologue, 1998; Text Message blog, 2019; Voting Rights Act milestone document); U.S. State Department Office of the Historian; U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division.

U.S.-born women who married noncitizens lost their own citizenship under a 1907 law, and with it the vote the 19th Amendment promised. The Cable Act of September 22, 1922 ended that for most of them, but a woman who married a Chinese, Japanese or Filipino man still lost her citizenship until 1931 (National Archives).

Native American women were mostly not citizens until Congress granted citizenship to all American Indians in 1924. Even then, Arizona and New Mexico barred Native Americans from voting until court rulings on July 15 and August 11, 1948, and Utah held out until 1957 (National Archives).

Asian immigrant women could not become citizens at all. Congress repealed Chinese exclusion in 1943, and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 ended racial bars to naturalization (Office of the Historian).

Black women in the South faced poll taxes, literacy tests and violence. The Voting Rights Act, signed August 6, 1965, outlawed literacy tests and sent federal examiners to register voters (National Archives). The Voting Rights Act explainer covers what it did and what the courts have since taken apart.

Women who read little or no English got ballots in Spanish, Asian, Native American and Alaska Native languages when Congress added Section 203 to the Voting Rights Act in 1975 (Justice Department).

Women Have Outvoted Men Since 1980

In 1964 men voted at a higher rate than women. Since 1980, women have voted at a higher rate than men in every presidential election. In 2024, 61% of voting-age women reported voting, against 57.4% of men, a gap of 3.6 points.

1964 2024

1. Women 67.0% → 61.0% (−6.0 pts)
2. Men 71.9% → 57.4% (−14.5 pts)

0%25%50%75%

Share of voting-age adults who voted, 1964 and 2024

Group	1964	2024	Change
Women	67.0%	61.0%	−6.0 pts
Men	71.9%	57.4%	−14.5 pts

Reported voting in presidential elections, percent of the voting-age population. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Table A-9.

Turnout fell for both groups over those 60 years, but men’s fell further, and the lines crossed in 1980, when women voted at 59.4% and men at 59.1%. The survey counts people who report voting, and the Census Bureau has asked the same question in every presidential election year since 1964.

The Voting Fights That Test the 19th Amendment Now

The 2025-26 fight over proof of citizenship has a sex-specific edge, because most married women no longer carry the name on their birth certificate. The SAVE America Act would require documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, to register to vote. The House passed it 218 to 213 on February 11, 2026. The bill says states must set up a way for people whose names have changed to prove it, with extra documents or a sworn statement (PolitiFact).

The Center for American Progress estimates that about 69 million women could not use their birth certificate alone as proof, because they changed their name when they married. It reached that number by applying a Pew Research Center finding, that 84% of women in opposite-sex marriages change their surname, to Census counts of married and once-married women (Center for American Progress). Supporters point to the bill’s name-change process. Critics answer that a process still means another trip and another document. The SAVE Act explainer covers where the bill stands, including the Senate’s 48-50 vote in June 2026.

None of this denies anyone the vote on account of sex on its face, which is what the 19th Amendment bans. The open question is whether a rule that critics say falls hardest on married women “abridges” their vote, and no court has tested it because the bill is not law.

What the 19th Amendment Does Not Do

• It does not give anyone the right to vote. It bans one reason for denying it. States still set other rules, within the limits of the 14th Amendment, the Voting Rights Act and other federal law.
• It does not ban sex discrimination outside voting. That is the job the Equal Rights Amendment was written for in 1923.
• It was not the first time women voted. Women in nine western states could vote by 1912, and the amendment made that rule national.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did women get the right to vote in America?
On August 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, which was certified on August 26, 1920. Women in nine western states could already vote by 1912. Many Black, Native American and Asian American women were still kept from voting for decades after 1920 by state laws and citizenship rules.

What amendment gave women the right to vote?
The 19th Amendment. It bars the United States and every state from denying or abridging the vote “on account of sex.” Congress sent it to the states on June 4, 1919, and it was ratified in August 1920.

What states voted against the 19th Amendment?
8 state legislatures voted it down before or during 1920: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. All 8 ratified it later, the last of them Mississippi in 1984.

What are the 18th and 19th Amendments?
The 18th Amendment, ratified in January 1919, banned alcohol (Prohibition) and was repealed by the 21st in 1933. The 19th, ratified in August 1920, bars denying citizens the vote on account of sex. They share an era, not a subject.

Can the 19th Amendment be repealed?
Only by another constitutional amendment, which needs two-thirds of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states.

What You Can Do

1. Check that your registration matches your current name. If you have married, divorced or changed your name since you registered, update your record before your state’s deadline. Vote.gov links to every state’s registration page, and our voter registration guide covers updating after a name change.

2. Know which documents show your name history. Keep a marriage certificate, divorce decree or court order with your birth certificate or passport, so you can prove a name change if a new rule asks for it.

3. Tell your senators where you stand on the SAVE America Act. Ask how they would protect married women who registered under a different name. Our letter-writing guide shows how to write a message an office will read.

4. Help someone else register. Voter registration drives by groups like the League of Women Voters, founded in 1920, run in most states.