Gilkey v. McKinley
75 Wis 543 (1890)
Women had the right to vote only in “school matters” and
this was tested in 1887 by Olympia Brown’s case, Brown v. Phillips. The ability
to vote in elections concerning school matters was additionally diminished when a close local
election was decided by the margin of votes in a special voting box set aside
for women. The runner-up sued, and the resulting Wisconsin Supreme Court
decision, Gilkey v. McKinley, meant that clerks could not provide separate
ballot boxes for women voting in certain local elections (which may involve “school
matters”), nor could clerks inspect the women’s ballots to make sure they only
voted on those items. It wasn’t until a decade later, in 1901, that the
Legislature enacted a law requiring every precinct in the state to provide a
separate ballot box for women voting on school matters. Prior to that time,
women were unable to vote for school issues in elections which decided other
matters or offices.
We have the Supreme Court briefs for this case in our
library, and you can read them online as well: Gilkey v. McKinley.