1. Next week: The 100th anniversary of the women’s suffrage amendment
2. Washington D.C. voters to decide ballot measure ending criminalization of psilocybin mushrooms
3. Cowan and Greene meet in Republican primary runoff in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District

Next week: The 100th anniversary of the women’s suffrage amendment

Next Tuesday—August 18—is the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—the women’s suffrage amendment. The specific text of the 19th amendment reads:

We’re highlighting this important anniversary with a look back at the history of the women’s suffrage movement, both at the national and state level. Today, we’ll present an overview of the adoption of the 19th Amendment. Next week, we will examine the statewide ballot measures designed to grant women's suffrage that were on the ballot before the 19th amendment was passed.

According to the National Women's History Museum, the women’s suffrage movement dates back to 1848. An estimated 300 men and women attended the First Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848. At that event, organizers declared that men and women are created equal and have the same civic rights and privileges.

On May 19, 1919, Congress convened a special session to address House Joint Resolution 1 (HJR 1)—which would eventually become the 19th Amendment. 

The House of Representatives passed HJR 1 by a vote of 304 to 89 and the Senate passed it 56 to 25. After passing both chambers of Congress, it required the ratification of 36 of the then-48 states to be ad. Tennessee became the 36th state to approve what became the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920. 

The Constitution’s 15th and 19th Amendments prohibited the government from denying a citizen's right to vote on account of race and sex, respectively. However, some states and localities had laws, such as poll taxes, reading and legal knowledge tests, and grandfather clauses, that disenfranchised men and women of color. Intimidation was also used to keep people of color from registering to vote and voting. On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson (D) signed the Voting Rights Act, which was intended to enforce the 15th Amendment.

The map below shows when states ratified the 19th Amendment. The states shaded yellow did not vote for ratification until after the 19th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution. Alaska and Hawaii had not yet been admitted to the U.S.

We’ll be back on August 18th with more. I hope you’ll enjoy learning about this important milestone in the history of voting rights in the U.S.

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Washington D.C. voters to decide ballot measure ending criminalization of psilocybin mushrooms

Voters in Washington, D.C. will decide a ballot measure in November that will direct police to treat the non-commercial cultivation, distribution, possession, and use of entheogenic plants and fungi as among the lowest law enforcement priorities. The Washington, D.C. Board of Elections determined on August 5 that sponsors submitted a sufficient number of valid signatures to certify the measure for the ballot.

Oregon voters will decide an initiative to establish a psilocybin program in November 2020. If approved, the initiative would make Oregon the first state to legalize psilocybin. In 2019, voters in Denver, Colorado, approved Initiated Ordinance 301, which declared that the adult use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms were of the city's lowest law enforcement priorities.

The Washington, D.C., measure would define entheogenic plants and fungi as species of plants and fungi that contain ibogaine, dimethyltryptamine, mescaline, psilocybin, or psilocyn. Examples include psilocybin mushrooms—also known as magic mushrooms or shrooms—peyote, and iboga. The ballot initiative would also ask the D.C. Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for D.C. to cease the prosecution of residents who buy, sell, or possess entheogenic plants and fungi.

The number of signatures required for a ballot initiative is equal to 5 percent of the district's registered voters. A total of 24,836 signatures were required for the measure to qualify for the ballot. 

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Washington, D.C., City Council approved a bill on May 5 allowing petitions to be distributed, printed, signed, scanned, and mailed to proponents rather than collected in person. Voters still needed to sign physical copies of the petitions.

Cowan and Greene meet in Republican primary runoff in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District

Four states—Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin—are holding statewide primaries for congressional, state executive, and state legislative offices today. All four states are holding their primaries on their originally scheduled dates. Connecticut voters will also decide that state’s presidential preference primary after Gov. Ned Lamont (D) issued an executive order April 17 postponing it from June 2 to coincide with today’s primary election.

In addition to those four states, Georgia is holding primary runoffs, including races in three congressional districts. On April 9, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) postponed Georgia's statewide primary elections from May 19 to June 9. Georgia law says that primary runoffs should be nine weeks after the primary, which moved this year's runoffs to Aug. 11. Two of the congressional runoffs are battleground primaries, including the race in Georgia’s 14th District. Here’s a quick preview of that primary.

Republican primary runoff in Georgia’s 14th Congressional DIstrict

Marjorie Taylor Greene and John Cowan face off in this runoff. Incumbent Tom Graves (R), who was first elected in 2010, did not seek re-election. In the June 9 primary, Greene received 40% of the vote to Cowan's 21% in a nine-candidate field.

Cowan is a neurosurgeon and owns a toy company. Greene owns a construction company. The race received national attention after Politico reported on comments Greene made about Muslims and Black people. 

At a debate, Cowan said to Greene, "I'll be the best ally that Donald Trump has by getting elected and keeping you out of office, because the Democrats will use you as their chief fundraiser for all the crazy and ludicrous things that you say."

Greene defended her comments on Twitter, saying, "Every Republican, every Christian Conservative is going to be called a racist and a bigot by the Fake News Media, as have Steve Scalise and Liz Cheney. I’m sorry my future colleagues are unable to stand up to the pressure and fight back."

The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball all rate the general election as Solid or Safe Republican. 

Follow along with us tonight as election results come in and sign up for our Heart of the Primaries newsletters for a summary of results on Wednesday morning!

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