In all democracies it is difficult to bring voters to the polls unless, as in some Swiss cantons, they are fined for absence.  In Colorado, Miss Sumner shows that women cast about forty per cent. of the total vote in the earlier years of their enfranchisement, though they were in a minority of the total population.[49] In the work of the primaries they were in a much smaller minority, except when some special problem or candidate appealed to them.  The more intelligent the community, the larger the woman’s vote; and it is largest of all in the best residence districts of Denver, the capital city.  The vote of American born women is larger than that of foreigners; and while the prostitutes of Denver have been voted in the interests of the party in power, public opinion is steadily making this more difficult.  In Idaho, all residents of the red light district have been disfranchised by statute; and practically they do not vote.

[49] Mr. LAWRENCE LEWIS, in the Outlook, for January 27, 1906, analyzes the election returns for parts of Pueblo City and vicinity, and he finds from 25 to 46 per cent. of the vote was cast by women, and the proportion of women increased with the intelligence and morale of the precinct.

There is no appreciable tendency on the part of women to form a new party, nor to favor their own sex.  They are more inclined than men to scratch the ticket and, as illustrated in the case of Judge Lindsey, they sometimes rally efficiently around an independent candidate, especially on a moral issue.  On the whole, women vote with their husbands, just as sons vote with their fathers; but the strength of the family vote, as compared with the vote of unsettled people, is certainly desirable.

Since the beginning of equal suffrage, Colorado has fully held her own with other States in advanced legislation, especially in social and educational lines.  Women have suffered no insult at the polls, and on the whole polling-places have improved; but how far this is due to women’s presence no one can say.  Women have occasionally held legislative and executive offices; but they have especially distinguished themselves as State and county superintendents of schools.

When it comes to estimating the effect of voting on the women themselves, it is still harder to form an opinion.  A large majority of those reporting to Miss Sumner think that women have become more intelligent and more public-spirited, but some doubt it.  Morally, they have shown themselves less corrupt than men; but a considerable number think women as a whole have suffered some deterioration.  This is a question bound up with our deepest feelings and our most conservative ideals; and it is inevitable that some observers should find any change for the worse.  On the whole, belief in equal suffrage seems to have increased in Colorado during the twelve years under survey.  Probably the results are much what they would be if one were to study a group of the most intelligent and refined men in the same community.