Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Fall Fancies - Voting

Yesterday, I stepped into a voting booth.  I stopped at the desk where I identified myself, and signed my name.  I was handed a ballot and filled out the voting circles with a designated felt tip pen.

I inserted it into the voting machine.

And I voted.

Easy peasy, right?

Well, I owe a lot to those who paved the way for me.  Until 1917, I could not have done this simple thing.
Susan B. Anthony, for example.  This is the house where she lived in Rochester, New York.

But there were male suffragists, too. 

One was Frederick Douglass, who also lived in Rochester.

Last year, our governor emailed:

"New York is not only the birthplace of the women’s rights movement, but it has a proud history of courageous women who triumphed over discrimination and advanced equality and opportunity for women everywhere. From suffrage pioneer Susan B. Anthony, who was arrested in 1872 at her home in Rochester for daring to vote...."

Yes, can you imagine a woman being arrested for what I did so easily yesterday.

I have a lot to be grateful for.  If you are a woman living in the United States, I hope you exercised the well-fought for right to vote, too.

9 comments:

  1. Sadly, I am sure there are still a lot of doofuses here in the USA who do not want women to vote. Yay for those who fought for our rights as women and those who continue to do so.

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  2. And, the problem is that a certain contingent is working hard to make it harder for you, me, and a lot of others from easily voting, from exercising our citizen right and duty

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  3. Yes, I was glad to see this year’s “I Voted” stickers salute the Women’s Sufferage movement. Disappointing outcome in my community, the candidates I supported lost. But I was proud to vote for them.

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  4. There were no elections in my municipality yesterday.

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  5. Nice post. I used to live in Rochester and always loved the Susan B. connection. But I must point out the 19th Amendment was not ratified until Aug. 1920.

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  6. Equal rights has a long way to go, but it's come a long way too.

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  7. A hard-fought-for right that I appreciate every time I step into a voting booth! Or even just when reading the commentaries leading to an election, knowing I have a voice in them.
    What makes me sad is those who have the right and don't use it!

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