Susan B. Anthony headstone damaged by ‘I voted’ stickers, now covered in plastic

The headstone for the women’s suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony was damaged after people stuck their “I voted” stickers to her grave, prompting officials to cover the stone in plastic.

The headstone is located at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, N.Y., and is now encased in a shield of plastic to prevent damage from stickers and cleaner used to remove the pasted notes, The Associated Press reported.

Headstone at Susan B. Anthony’s gravesite now protected by plastic case https://t.co/q1zMe7UtkT

— 13WHAM (@13WHAM) October 26, 2020

Those who placed their stickers on her gravestone were honoring the legacy Anthony paved for women’s suffrage rights when she voted on Nov. 5, 1872, while it was still illegal for women to do so.

The late Anthony’s headstone has been a popular spot for voters to place their “I voted” stickers in recent years, as some residents pasted their stickers at the site following the 2018 midterm election.

The sticker trend became vastly popular on Election Day in 2016, when as many as 12,000 people came to the cemetery to honor women’s suffrage rights and memorialize the first time Americans could vote for a female major-party presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Anthony died in 1906, 14 years before women gained the constitutional right to vote. Her sister Mary Anthony’s headstone is adjacent and was also encased in plastic.

Patricia Corcoran, president of the nonprofit Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery, told the AP a restoration effort started in spring revealed damage done to the marble by the stickers.

This year marks several notable milestones for women in politics and historic anniversaries, which could contribute to the popularity of the gravesite.

The 19th Amendment marked its 100th anniversary giving women the right to vote, and 2020 is the 200th anniversary of Anthony’s birthday.

Additionally, the upcoming election will allow voters for the first time the option to vote a woman of color for vice president, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate.