Susan B. Anthony died 110 years ago, before women got the right to vote and well before Hillary Clinton ran for president. But today, literally Tuesday, the suffragette most associated with that effort is experiencing a wave of popularity as voters make a pilgrimage to her gravesite to place their “I Voted Today” stickers on her stone.
"I'm voting for the first woman president. As a woman I can vote because of the sacrifices she made," said Gillian Paris of Brighton, who affixed her sticker to Anthony's marker about 7 a.m., shortly after sunrise. It was her first visit to Anthony's grave which made the occasion "a little more special."
In anticipation of the higher-than-normal traffic Anthony’s grave was likely to get on Election Day, the mayor of Rochester, NY, where Anthony died in 1906, extended the hours of operation for the cemetery on Tuesday from 7:30 AM until 9 PM when the polls close, rather than it’s normal closing time of 5:30 PM.
“Visiting Susan B. Anthony’s gravesite has become an Election Day rite of passage for many citizens in Rochester and with this year’s historically significant election, it seems right to extend that opportunity until the polls close,” said Mayor (Lovely A.) Warren noted in a press release.
And in a kind of exchange, Tuesday’s visitors to the gravesite will receive a commemorative sticker with a photo of Anthonyon which is printed:
“I Voted Today Because of Women Like Her.”
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