Colorado Celebrates 19th Amendment Which Gave Women Right To Vote

DENVER (CBS4)- On Monday, people across Colorado celebrated the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. On Aug. 26, 1920, the amendment was officially added to the U.S. Constitution.

Earlier in 1919, the 19th Amendment passed in Congress but it needed to be ratified by 36 states to become law. Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment.

Colorado was ahead of the rest of the U.S. and had outlawed sexual discrimination in voting laws in 1895, more than 25 years before the 19th Amendment became law.

The 19th Amendment states in part, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." However, some women were still denied access to the ballot, including Native American women, African American women, Puerto Rican women and Asian American women, according to the Smithsonian.

Gov. Jared Polis was among those commemorating the anniversary on Monday. Currently, 45% of legislators in the Colorado General Assembly are women, the highest percentage of any state legislature in the nation.

Polly Baca spoke at the event on the steps of the state Capitol. She is the first Latina to be elected to the Colorado State Senate.

She says it was something her mother fought for, "And I'll always be grateful that she lived long enough to see her daughter elected to the Colorado State Senate."