1918: A World War, the Spanish Flu and an election year
Mary Fran and Lance Benson of Graeagle shared a voting reminder from a newspaper printed on Nov. 5, 1918, that is eerily reminiscent of what is happening today. The couple said that Lance’s great grandmother saved the Sacramento Union while her son was off at war and this issue was printed less than a week before Armistice Day. Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States, and while it was an election year, it was not a presidential election year. However, those going to the polls during the midst of the Spanish Flu faced the same challenges in voting during a pandemic as Americans are in 2020.
