Driving the Vote for Equality
Driving the Vote for Equality Tour Visits Modesto with Historic Saxon Motor Car Used in 1916 Suffrage Tour
DATE & TIME: Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 11:00 am
LOCATION: McClatchy Square Rose Garden, corner of 15th and I Streets, Modesto, CA 95354
SPEAKERS:
- Sue Zwahlen, Mayor – City of Modesto
- Jeryl Schriever, Author – Drive the Vote for Women: An American Journey for Suffrage
- Kathy Bonk, Representative – Driving the Vote for Equality Tour
- Amy Wolfe, President – League of Women Voters of Stanislaus County
- Amanda Hughes, Past President – Stanislaus County Commission for Women
MODESTO, CA. The Driving the Vote for Equality Tour is coming to Modesto as part of a 25-state campaign to connect the history of the women’s drive for the vote to today’s push to
recognize the Equal Rights Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. The Tour’s visit is cosponsored by the League of Women Voters of Stanislaus County and the Stanislaus County
Commission for Women.
At the center of the event is the Golden Flyer II, a 1914 restored Saxon motorcar used duringthe 1916 cross-country suffrage journey of Alice Burke and Nell Richardson to rally support for
women’s voting rights. In that same spirit, the tour is bringing a visible, historic symbol to communities across the country to spotlight the unfinished work of equality by raising awareness and activating supporters for the Equal Rights Amendment.
SPECIAL CONNECTION TO MODESTO: On June 8, 1916, the suffragists’ visit to Modesto wasdescribed in a piece in the Modesto Bee chronicling the women’s journey, including a surprise
for Alice Burke, “meeting for the first time in ten years a daughter, Miss Armstrong.”