During the 1890 election campaign, WCTU members attempted to ask all candidates about their position on women's suffrage.[44] The petition contained 10,085 signatures according to WCTU minutes, and Hall presented it to Parliament in 1891 as a new Electoral Bill went into committee.[45][46] The petition was supported in Parliament by Hall, Alfred Saunders, and the Premier at the time, John Ballance. Hall moved an amendment to the Electoral Bill to give women suffrage; it passed with a majority of 25 votes. An opponent of suffrage, Walter Carncross, then moved an amendment which would also allow women to stand for parliament; this seemed a logical extension of Hall's amendment but was actually calculated to cause the Bill's failure in New Zealand's upper house, the New Zealand Legislative Council.