By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The League of Women Voters will have their traveling exhibit for the 100th anniversary of women nationwide gaining the right to vote at the Kansas State Fair next month.
"There are seven panels," said Janice Walker with the League. "They show a timeline of winning the votes in Kansas. It introduces people to the many Kansas suffragettes, who were actually at the forefront of suffrage."
Kansas let women vote earlier than some parts of the country.
"In 1912, women in Kansas were voting in state elections and for President of the United States," Walker said. "This was a full eight years before the 19th Amendment passed."
The League of Women Voters traces its roots to the Sunflower State, as well.
"They formed the first League of Women Voters in Wichita, Kansas," Walker said. "The first president in the nation of the League of Women Voters was Jane Brooks from Wichita."
The League is still looking for volunteers to staff its booth next month, though they won't be registering voters this year, thanks to new election legislation that creates penalties for impersonating an election official.
The League is part of litigation challenging that law.