The election resulted in a vote of 317,672, a very large one considering that the Presidential vote in 1912 had been only 459,000. The vote in favor of the suffrage amendment was 133,281, or 42 per cent. of the whole; against, 184,391, defeated by 51,110. Ocean county was the only one carried but 126 cities and towns were carried and a number of counties gave from 46 to 49 per cent. in favor.
Two weeks after their defeat several hundred New Jersey suffragists went to New York and Philadelphia to march in the suffrage parades, taking the biggest and best band in the State and carrying at the head of their division a runner twenty feet long reading: New Jersey—Delayed but not Defeated.
The State convention of 1915 was postponed until January, 1916, when it was held in Elizabeth. There were then 215 local branches with a membership of over 50,000. No discouragement was visible but a program of educational work and intensive organization was adopted, money was pledged for the salaries of three field organizers and it was decided to have a bill for Presidential suffrage introduced in the Legislature. Mrs. Ward D. Kerlin, second vice-president, was the only new officer elected. A new constitution was adopted putting the association on a non-dues-paying basis, providing for an annual budget and re-organization of the State by congressional districts.
In June New Jersey was represented at the National Republican convention in Chicago by Mrs. Feickert, Miss Esther G. Ogden, Mrs. E. G. Blaisdell, Miss A. E. Cameron and Mrs. Joseph Marvel. All of the New Jersey delegates were interviewed and twelve of the twenty-eight promised to support a suffrage plank in the platform.
In July the Women's Political Union disbanded and its local branches joined the State association. The national suffrage convention held at Atlantic City in September gave a great impetus to the State work. The annual convention met in Jersey City in November, where it was decided to conduct a strenuous campaign during 1917 for Presidential suffrage and for the Federal Amendment and to employ four field organizers. The new officers elected were Mrs. John J. White, Miss Lulu H. Marvel, Mrs. J. Thompson Baker, vice-presidents; Miss Anita Still, auditor. The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell and Dr. Mary D. Hussey were added to the list of honorary presidents.
A bill for Presidential suffrage was introduced in the Legislature in February, 1917, and everything was going finely when war was declared. The suffrage association was the first women's organization in the State to offer its services to the Governor and was publicly thanked by him for its patriotic stand. At his request it conducted a canvass of women nurses, doctors and clerical workers and received letters of thanks from him and the Adjutant General for this very successful piece of work. It cooperated in the organization of a Woman's Division of the State Council of National Defense and its president, Mrs. Feickert, was vice-chairman of the Council. The association purchased and operated a Soldiers' Club House and canteen in the town of Wrightstown, near which Camp Dix was located. It was opened in November, 1917, and was kept open until June, 1919, by volunteer workers. Over $30,000 were raised for it, one-fifth of this amount being contributed by Mrs. White. More than 250,000 men were entertained there. Officers and members of the association responded to all demands of the war.
The annual convention was held in the Capitol at Trenton in November. Reports showed that only thirty of the hundreds of local branches had dropped suffrage work because of their war activities, and the spirit was one of determination that the battle for real democracy in the United States should be kept up just as actively as the war against autocracy abroad. Mrs. Wells P. Eagleton was elected a vice-president, Mrs. E. G. Blaisdell a secretary and Mrs. F. W. Veghte an auditor. The State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs was accepted as an affiliated organization and its president, the Rev. Florence Randolph, was made a member of the State Board. The convention voted to make its special work for the year the collecting of a monster petition of women, to be so worded that it could be used in Congressional work for the Federal Amendment and with the Legislature for ratification.
In the summer of 1918 U. S. Senator William Hughes, who was pledged to vote for the Federal Amendment, died and the candidate for the office was David Baird, a strong anti-suffragist. As only one more vote in the Senate was needed to pass the amendment the National Association asked the New Jersey association to do its best to defeat him. An active campaign was carried on for two months but he was too powerful a party leader, though he ran 9,000 votes behind the rest of the ticket. He voted against the amendment every time it came before the Senate.
Because of the Baird campaign and the general unsettled feeling around the time of the signing of the armistice the annual convention was postponed to May, 1919, when it was held in Atlantic City. The ratification petitions collected the preceding year had over 80,000 names of women not previously enrolled as suffragists. Mrs. H. N. Simmons, vice-president, and Mrs. F. T. Kellers, auditor, were the only new officers elected. It was voted that the other State organizations of women should be asked to join in the campaign for ratification of the Federal Amendment by the Legislature. The committee was organized in July, 1918, with the following organizations represented: Woman Suffrage Association, Federation of Women's Clubs, Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Public Health Nursing, Teachers' Association; chairman, Mrs. Feickert; secretary, Mrs. James Simister; treasurer, Mrs. Olmsted. A Finance Committee was appointed—Mrs. Seymour L. Cromwell, Mrs. Colby and Mrs. Hunter—which raised over $10,000. The principal contributors were Mrs. Cromwell, Mrs. Colby, Judge and Mrs. John J. White, Mrs. Wittpenn, Mrs. Hartshorne, Mrs. Lewis S. Thompson and Mrs. Robert Stevens.
A very active primary and general election campaign was made in 1919 for the election of men pledged to vote for ratification, in which 110,000 personal letters were sent out, all kinds of organizations were circularized and about 1,000,000 pieces of literature were distributed. A State ratification mass meeting at Asbury Park in August opened the campaign and local meetings were held in every county. A Governor and a majority in both Houses were elected who were pledged to ratification.