Carlisle, Elinor Major

Elinor M. Carlisle was the first woman elected to the School Board of Berkeley, Alameda County, California, in 1909.  She ran on a "Good Government" platform, and her campaign was supported by a group of local women's organizations and clubs, such as the local Twentieth Century Club and the Mother's Federated Club. Carlisle's election was challenged by defeated candidate Joseph T. Farrar, a local physician. In early 1909 the California legislature had passed a law requiring that all primary election candidates swear that they were legal electors in the state. As California women had no suffrage rights, they could not so swear.  The law was hotly debated all over the state, and Farrar used it to challenge Carlisle in court.
Carlisle had been part of the California woman suffrage movement from the 1890s onward and had activley worked for the franchise.