words "voting at the election" were substituted for "voting upon
the question" no one seemed to know but they got into the
constitution. They meant that the suffrage referendum must poll a
majority of all the votes cast at the election and not just on the
measure itself. If the ballot was not marked at all it was counted in
the negative. The official returns gave the affirmative vote on
suffrage 40,209; blanks and noes together 49,348, making a total of
89,557, or 251 more votes than were cast for Governor, who polled the
largest number. It was generally conceded that if the unmarked ballots
had not been counted against the measure it would have been carried.
The entire western part of the State went for suffrage. The chief
opponents were the German Russians in Emmons and surrounding counties
and a handful of anti-suffragists who came from outside the State.

The same Legislature that sent this bill to the electors also
submitted a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution, which
would be more secure than a law. This resolution had to pass two
Legislatures but it required only a majority at the polls of the votes
actually cast on the question. The suffragists felt sure that the
Legislature of 1915 would pass for the second time this resolution for
an amendment but it refused to do so. They soon sustained a great loss
in the death of Mrs. Darrow, the much loved president, on April 23,
1915. She had sacrificed her life in her ceaseless work for woman
suffrage. Her husband, Dr. E. M. Darrow, a pioneer physician, two
daughters and three sons ardently supported her efforts.

On account of the campaign the convention of 1914 had been postponed.
It was held at Valley City in June, 1915, and Mrs. Grace Clendening of
Wimbledon was elected president. Undaunted the suffragists made plans
to hold together the converts won during the campaign. The
organization had been of mushroom growth and they now had to
strengthen it.

The annual convention was held at Minot Oct. 10, 1915, and Mrs.
Clendening was re-elected. Extensive educational work was done the
following year, at Chautauquas by holding "suffrage days," and through
booths maintained at the Fargo and Grand Forks fairs, with a wide
distribution of literature. The Votes for Women League and the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union opposed Governor Hanna and Lieutenant
Governor Fraine at the June primaries because they were responsible
for the unfair treatment of the su