Counting Women's Ballots
Female Voters from Suffrage through the New Deal

Counting Women's Ballots provides a comprehensive account of how women voted in presidential elections immediately after suffrage.

J. Kevin Corder (Author), Christina Wolbrecht (Author)

9781107140257, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 May 2016

250 pages, 68 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.3 cm, 0.58 kg

'This important and compelling book should be of interest to scholars of gender and politics, voting behavior, and party realignment during the Progressive Era and New Deal. It sheds light on a crucial period of voting in America.' Journal of Politics

How did the first female voters cast their ballots? For almost 100 years, answers to this question have eluded scholars. Counting Women's Ballots employs new data and novel methods to provide insights into whether, how, and with what consequences women voted in the elections after suffrage. The analysis covers a larger and more diverse set of places, over a longer period of time, than has previously been possible. J. Kevin Corder and Christina Wolbrecht find that the extent to which women voted and which parties they supported varied considerably across time and place, challenging attempts to describe female voters in terms of simple generalizations. Many women adapted quickly to their new right; others did not. In some cases, women reinforced existing partisan advantages; in others, they contributed to dramatic political realignment. Counting Women's Ballots improves our understanding of the largest expansion of the American electorate during a transformative period of American history.

1. Counting women's ballots
2. Before suffrage
3. What we already know
4. Estimating women's turnout and vote choice
5. Female voters and the republican landslide of 1920
6. Female voters, republican majorities, and the progressive surge in 1924
7. Female voters and the 'rum and religion' election of 1928
8. Female voters and the emerging democratic majority, 1932–6
9. Female voters from suffrage through the new deal and beyond.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC]