Women flock to Susan B. Anthony’s grave to cover the suffragist’s tombstone with ‘I Voted’ stickers

After casting their midterm election ballots, women have been pilgrimaging to suffragist Susan B. Anthony’s New York grave site to mark the occasion by sticking their ‘I voted’ sticker on her tombstone.   

People began arriving at Anthony’s grave site in Rochester, New York’s Mount Hope Cemetery starting at 7.05am Tuesday, according a tweet by WROC’s John Kucko.   

It was almost 146 years ago to the day — November 5, 1872 — that Anthony, as a woman, illegally voted in a presidential election, after which she was charged with and fined for flouting the era’s law. 

The first voter to turn up at Susan B. Anthony’s grave site in Rochester, New York, arrived at 7.05am. She then placed their ‘I voted’ sticker on Anthony’s tombstone

More women arrived throughout the day after casting their midterm election ballots, adding their stickers to a rapidly building collection

Anthony never got the opportunity to vote legally – she died in 1906 and the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, was passed in 1920

Although Anthony never got a chance to vote legally, the women’s suffrage movement achieved its goals when the 19th Amendment was adopted in 1920, giving women the right to vote. 

Almost 146 years ago to the day — November 5, 1872 — Anthony illegally voted in a presidential election, after which she was charged with and fined for flouting the law

Photographs appearing on social media throughout the day indicated how rapidly the tombstone’s surface was filling up, despite the inclement weather. 

In one particularly poignant snap, Democrat & Chronicle journalist Tina MacIntyre-Yee captured the moment a young girl placed her mom’s sticker on Anthony’s grave.

CNN reported a similar influx of women’s making the trip out to Anthony’s grave after voting in the 2016 presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.  

While many social media users across the country cheered at the sight of the stickers covering Anthony’s grave, others were quick to point out the more controversial aspects of Anthony’s voting advocacy. 

Anthony’s tombstone as it appears before it’s covered with ‘I voted’ stickers. The tombstone was also covered with stickers by women who made the pilgrimage after the 2016 election

‘Even though women of color didn’t get the right to vote until much later—something we all need to remember—images of I-voted stickers on Susan B. Anthony’s grave never get old,’ tweeted @introvertgay.  

‘Don’t forget that Susan B Anthony was a racist who only fought for the right for WHITE women to vote,’ tweeted @joey__hanna. 

‘F**k Susan B. Anthony. Let’s celebrate the woman who directly fought against black women’s right to vote?’ @LivPopeCams tweeted, before writing, ‘”I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for the Negro and not the woman.” – Susan B. Anthony.’

Voters stopping at Anthony’s grave to place their ‘I voted’ sticker is said to be a tradition that goes back several years.  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk