Hillary Clinton supporters are flocking to the grave site of women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony to place “I voted” stickers on the tombstone.
A local news station in Rochester, New York, decided to stream the grave on Facebook Live and it attracted over 40,000 viewers early into Election Day. Anthony played a pivotal role in the achievement of women’s suffrage, and this is the first election in history that Americans can vote for a female presidential nominee on a major party’s ticket.
So many people have stopped by the grave to pay respect to Anthony that the cemetery will stay open late on Election Day.
“Visiting Susan B. Anthony’s gravesite has become an Election Day rite of passage for many citizens,” Rochester’s Mayor Lovely Warren said in a statement. “With this year’s historically significant election, it seems right to extend that opportunity until the polls close.”
Anthony is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester. She was instrumental in forcing Congress to allow women to vote and when female voters were finally allowed in 1920, it was called the “Susan B. Anthony amendment.”
Voters in the area can stop by the grave of Frederick Douglass, who is also buried there.
Watch the live stream below, followed by additional snapshots of the scene circulating on Twitter.
This is not a line to vote; it's a line to see Susan B. Anthony's gravesite. #Election2016 pic.twitter.com/xUd44WpJgj
— Patrick Thornton (@pwthornton) November 8, 2016
https://twitter.com/SarahMaslinNir/status/796009669525389312
100+ years after Susan B. Anthony died without the right to vote, hundreds put "I Voted" stickers on her grave: https://t.co/YMWodSMX4n pic.twitter.com/kbwYPSXlAS
— Peter Slattery (@PeterSlattery3) November 8, 2016