Voters Invited to Honor Livingston County’s First Female Mayor with ‘I Voted’ Stickers

GENESEO – Family members of Geneseo’s first female mayor say that her gravestone will be available to anyone who wants to display their ‘I voted’ stickers on Tuesday.

Geneseo elected Democrat Ann Duff as Mayor in 1974. This was a historic moment for Livingston County, as its first female elected official, Barb Scoville, won her election just two years earlier. For Duff’s daughter Margaret, herself now a Village Trustee, this Presidential election is an opportunity to thank her mom as one of those who paved the way for female candidates.

“The year my mom was elected, Geneseo was changing,” said Duff. “For once, people felt that they didn’t have to just vote party lines. My sister Mary and I saw the news that people were putting stickers on Susan B. Anthony’s gravestone and thought, ‘what a great way to pay respects to that history.’ Though mom has been gone for more than 20 years now I think it would make her proud if voters put their stickers on her grave.”

Now, three of the Geneseo Village Board’s five members are women, and several women hold higher offices in county government. Four of the 17 members of Livingston County’s Town Supervisors are women.

Ann Duff’s gravestone is about six rows back and the third stone in on the left of the driveway closest to South Street (20A) at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Geneseo.