Voters keep constitution as is

The Journal Sentinel staff

Wisconsin voters Tuesday appeared to reject a plan to remove superfluous masculine pronouns from the state constitution, according to early vote returns.

A measure authorizing changes in the language of the constitution to make it "gender neutral" was one of three proposed constitutional amendments on Tuesday's statewide referendum ballot.

With 61% of the precincts reporting, these were the unofficial totals:

State of Wisconsin Gender neutral referendum "Shall articles I, IV, V, VI, VII, XI and XIII of the constitution be amended to remove unnecessary masculine gender pronouns?" 2,185 of 3,554 precincts reporting

Yes266,095

No305,845

Supporters of the amendment argued that it was not a rush to make the state's founding document politically correct, but an effort to recognize that more women are becoming state officials and that the role of women in politics and in society has changed dramatically since 1848, when Wisconsin became a state.

"The amendment is a matter of having the language of the constitution reflect reality, and the reality is that women are part of the state government," said Senate President Brian Rude (R-Coon Valley), the Senate author of the measure.

The state constitution, adopted 72 years before women could even vote in Wisconsin, was written by men primarily for men. It is rife with masculine-only pronouns like "he," "his," "him" to refer to state officials and voters.

Opponents of the amendment argued that as a historic document, the constitution should not be changed and that people today know these pronouns refer to both sexes.

The articles of the constitution that were the subject of the referendum declare the rights of Wisconsin citizens; describe the structure, authority and rules of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of state government; set forth the duties of the state superintendent of public instruction; and describe the process for amending the constitution.

A "yes" vote on the amendment question meant all the unnecessary masculine pronouns in the constitution would be replaced by references to specific state offices, such as "governor," "officer," "legislator" or other gender-neutral words such as "person."

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