7 Women Who Changed the Way We Vote

"Every single person can make a difference in this election - and today we're asking supporters to start by taking one action that will help grow our campaign," First Lady Michelle Obama said today at the launch of "It Takes One," an initiative she will lead.

"It Takes One" will empower individuals to register voters through GottaVote.org and to discuss critical campaign issues with neighbors or door-to-door in a grassroots push to engage people in the push toward November's election.

This initiative is new, but engaging the power of just one person to change the political process has been a part of our country's history long before we were united under one name. Many unnamed people have set up tables and walked miles between houses and churches and community centers to register voters and educate the uninformed on discriminatory election laws, most of whom are not credited with published biographies or plaques to honor their contributions. As we look back at several women who notably changed the course of voter rights through their activism, we honor those individuals as well.

Here are seven voter-rights activists who stand for thousands more, all women, and each who used their voice to let ours be heard. One at a time.

- By Jessica Ashley

For famous women who support Obama's stance on reproductive rights, visit Babble!

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Jessica Ashley is author of the single-mom-in-the-city blog, Sassafrass. She is a parenting and healthy living expert, a former senior editor at Yahoo! Shine, and has contributed to AOL, ParentsConnect, CarePages, GalTime and Huffington Post. Jessica wears inappropriately high heels to the playground and is the mother of one boy, and the proof is in the pile of Star Wars Lego guys at the bottom of her purse.

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