‘Full circle’: Susan B. Anthony’s New York home is now a polling place

Of Michael GryboskiMainline Church Editor Thursday, October 31, 2024

The historic New York home of women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony, who was arrested in the 19th century for illegal voting, has been designated as the official polling place.

The historic Rochester site, located in a neighborhood named after Anthony, had about 700 people vote early last Saturday, The New York Times reported.

In 1872, Anthony voted in the presidential election and was later arrested by authorities who came to her home because state law prohibited women from participating in the political process.

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One of the voters waiting in line to vote at the Anthony home told the media that he felt “really full,” adding that “it was so cool to be able to vote at the place where Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting. .”

According to Deborah Hughes, president of the Susan B. Anthony Museum & House, her organization came up with the idea for the house to be a polling place in 2020, when New York introduced early voting in presidential elections.

The effort faced some hurdles in securing designation as an official polling place, the NY Times reported, with one problem being lack of space at the historic two-story house.

After the historic site built a carriage house with two exits on the property, the Monroe County Board of Elections finally designated it as a polling place earlier this year.

“The idea was not to celebrate this great icon of Susan B. Anthony,” Hughes told the NY Times. “It was about the cause to which he dedicated his whole life and which we believe is still essential and important. This is in line with our mission.”

Born in 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts, Anthony was inspired by his Quaker beliefs to pursue civil rights causes, including the abolition of slavery and women’s equality.

After her arrest for voting illegally in the 1872 election, Anthony was put on trial, a judge found her guilty in June 1873 and fined her $100, which she reportedly refused to pay.

Although Anthony died 14 years before the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which guaranteed women the right to vote, the measure was often nicknamed the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment” in her honor.

“As such, it was a tribute to Anthony’s integrity, determination and influence,” he wrote National Museum of Women’s History. “The fruits of her labor would enable many women to play a pivotal role in shaping American society for generations to come.”