Women in Pennsylvania did not gain the right to vote for any elected officials until the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in August of 1920. In most states the constitution, the state legislature, or a [male] voter referendum determined the right of women to full or local suffrage. Most states and courts agreed that only those with the right to the franchise could be legitimate or legal contenders for local office. Pennsylvania was an exception to this. The state constitution did allow women to run for any office connected to education. Women were allowed to run for the office of School Director or Superintendent, but were not allowed to vote for this office. According to the 1903
Yearbook and List of Active Members of the National Education Association, there were no women who had been elected to the office of superintendent on the state, county, or local level. This is in direct contrast to other states where women filled these offices in large numbers.
Despite the laws against women running for office in Pennsylvania,
Mary L. Trescott campaigned for a judgeship, some time before 1906. She was not elected. Trescott was elected to the Wilkes-Barre school board, serving as its president in 1911.
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