Nevada Commission for Women unveils historic license plate honoring 100 years of women's suffrage

The Nevada Commission for Women unveiled a limited edition license plate celebrating women’s suffrage as a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.

The plate itself is historic to Nevada, as it was the first assembly bill, Assembly Bill 499, to be backed by only women. Bills need a majority vote to pass any legislation, and this session was the first session any state in the country saw a legislature with a female-led majority.

“This is a celebration and commemoration of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote,” said Molly Walt of the Nevada Commission for Women.

See Assembly Bill 499 here.

Nevada has often paved the way for progress and independence in its short history, with a western flair squarely rooted in a penchant for ingenuity and a touch of lawlessness that can only be defined as Nevadan.

While the majority of the country wouldn’t begin actively fighting segregation until the 1960’s, back in the beginnings of Virginia City the town and the schools were never segregated by race (with the exemption of Native Americans which is a painful discussion unto itself). The Fourth Ward School which still stands today is a testament to that.

Nevada also paved the way for women to be independent community workers and they were awarded the right to vote years before it was recognized nationally.

During the Comstock boom, men poured into the area seeking fortune, and fortune they found. A city grew overnight in the mountain town to later be called Ol’ Virginny, and soon, the women followed suit.

When a community grows quickly, and their aren’t enough people to sustain all of the work that needs to be done, historically women are able to gain more independence. Women became business owners, land owners; they had a say in their own communities and participated in local politics.

However, these women were involved in politics yet denied the right to vote. The Nevada Constitution was accepted in 1864 once our statehood was guaranteed, and it awarded the right to vote nationally — to men. White men, to be precise, though in 1870 that right was given to African-American men as well.

In 1869, Curtis J. Hillyer from Storey County introduced a bill that would allow women to vote. Both houses of the Nevada legislature passed the amendment, but it failed to pass two years later during the mandatory second vote.

The topic wouldn’t reach the powers that be for an additional forty years until 1914, when a general vote was taken to give women the right to vote and passed, with an overwhelming majority of votes coming from rural areas. Women in Nevada voted for the first time in local races in 1915, and statewide in 1916.

Four years later, the 19th amendment guaranteed all women the right to vote and was ratified in 1920.

Now, during 2020, as a commemoration of this great achievement for women, the Nevada Commission for Women unveiled the women’s suffrage anniversary license plate, which will only be issued during the 2020 year.

Assembly Bill 499 was presented by Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, the longest serving female legislator, who spoke during the unveiling.

“It was a pleasure to work on this plate at the beginning of the session,” said Carlton.

Carlton generally detests bills for special license plates, she said jokingly, and had set out to refuse any and all special license plates presented.

“When we realized it was the 100 year anniversary and the first female led session, I knew we needed to go ahead and support it.”

Carlton and the other assemblywomen guarded the bill to make sure none of their male colleagues signed it, so that at the top of the bill the first name would say “Assemblywoman,” which they succeeded.

“I’ll say now, in front of all of you, I will do no more special license plates,” she said.

Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno of Clark County also sponsored the bill and spoke during the unveiling.

Monroe-Moreno serves as the Assistant Majority Floor Leader for the democratic party and is the first African-American woman to hold a leadership position in the Nevada Legislature.

“When we drive around with this plate on our cars, it tells every little girl that they matter, that their voice matters,” said Monroe-Moreno.

The license plate was first suggested in 2017 and went through multiple designs with the help of graphic design students from Carson High School and Western Nevada College before the final design was submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Lieutenant Governor Kate Marshall helped with the unveiling, and spoke of how important the right to the women in her family is still today.

“This plate honors the fact that women should have an equal voice, and a part of that is the ability and the right to vote,” said Marshall. “My grandmother did not have the right to vote when she was born. When she was able to vote, it was very important to her and she took all her daughters with her to vote every time. My mother carried on that tradition with us, and now I have taken my daughters with me when they were very little to show them how important it is.”

You can reserve your plate now, which will be available for purchase at the beginning of the new year, by visiting this link: https://dmvnv.com/suffrage.asp

Photo captions:

From left, Nevada Assemblywomen Maggie Carlton, Danielle Monroe-Moreno, Teresa Benitez-Thompson and Lt. Gov. Kate Marshall unveil the new Nevada license plate honoring the 100-year anniversary of women’s suffrage, at the Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records, on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019. The limited-issue plate commemorates the centenary of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.
Photo by Cathleen Allison/Nevada Momentum