Ballot Box Battle Emily Arnold McCully (Author), A. Levine (Editor) This is the story of Cordelia, a fictional young girl who is inspired by her neighbor, the suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Cordelia loves to ride on Stanton's old horse and dreams of being a real horsewoman despite her brother's sneers (he says she will not be a true horsewoman until she jumps a four-foot fence) and her parents' belief that this is not a lady-like ambition. On Election Day in 1880 (40 years before the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote), Cordelia accompanies Stanton to the Tenafly, New Jersey polls, where Stanton attempts to cast a vote in the local contests each year. Cordelia watches despondently as election officials ridicule Stanton, who flings her ballot at the hand covering the slot in the box. Inspired by Stanton's courage and angered by the teasing of her brother and other local boys, Cordelia makes her own protest by riding Stanton's old horse over a four-foot fence and proving her independence.
[Grade Level: 2 - 4]
