Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/468

Rh are held for elections, and there are, by the statutes, three classes of voters described by law. 1. Every person (male or female) who is a resident of the district, of the age of twenty-one years, entitled to hold lands in this State, who either owns or hires real estate in the district liable to taxation for school purposes.

2. Every citizen of the United States (male or female) above the age of twenty-one years, who is a resident of the district, and who owns any personal property assessed on the last preceding assessment roll of the town exceeding $50 in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from execution.

3. Every citizen of the United States (male or female) above the age of twenty-one years, who is a resident of the district and who has permanently residing with him, or her, a child or children of school age, some one or more of whom shall have attended the school of the district for a period of at least eight weeks within the year preceding the time at which the vote is offered.

Several of the large cities hold their elections on the first Tuesday in March, while the majority of the rural districts hold their school meetings on the second Tuesday in October. Preparations were at once made to call out a large vote of women in the cities holding spring elections, but all such efforts were checked by official action. The mayor of Rochester wrote to the governor, asking him if the new law applied to cities. Mr. Cornell laid the question before Attorney-General Ward, who promptly gave an opinion that inasmuch as the words "school meeting "were used in the law, women could only vote where such meetings were held, but were not entitled to vote at the elections in large cities. Meantime the New York City Association called a meeting of congratulation on the passage of the bill on February 25, when Robinson Hall was crowded to overflowing with the friends of woman suffrage, some of whom addressed the vast audience.

A mass-meeting of women was held at Albany, in Geological Hall, Mrs. Blake presiding. It was especially announced that the meeting was only for ladies, but several men who strayed in were permitted to remain, to take that part in the proceedings usually allowed to women in masculine assemblies, that is, to be silent spectators. Resolutions were passed, urging the women to vote at the coming election, and the names of several ladies were suggested as trustees. March 19, 1880, the Albany County Woman Suffrage Association was formed, whose first active duty was to rouse the women to vote in the coming school election, which they did, in spite of the attorney-general's opinion.