From collection Candidates
Miss Joanna Sprague of Salt Lake City, Utah, campaigned for County Recorder in 1897. Before her campaign, Sprague had served successfully as the deputy in the District Court Clerk's Office and had the support of most of the attorneys in the county. Informal canvases predicted that she would fare far ahead of her opponents in the election. However, Sprague failed to gain the women vote and lost the election. Her loss demonstrated that female candidates could not depend reliably upon the votes of fellow women.
