Lake County picks Painesville suffragist for America 250 bobblehead
Published by: Cleveland.com
Original article found here
PAINESVILLE, Ohio – Lake County just held an election for the ages. No campaign ads, no debate stage, no yard signs. Just 643 residents deciding which local hero deserves to spend eternity as a wobbly-headed collectible.
The winner: Frances Jennings Casement, a Painesville abolitionist and women’s suffrage leader who spent her life fighting for freedom and equality. She will be the face of Lake County’s America 250 commemorative bobblehead after pulling in 204 votes — nearly one-third of ballots cast in a community-wide vote that ran through March 17.
The full voting results are as follows: Frances Jennings Casement (204 votes, 31.7%), Charles Anderson Wickliffe (105, 16.3%), Dr. Westel Willoughby Jr. (101, 15.7%), Frances Payne Bolton (83, 12.9%), The Patriot Woman (82, 12.8%), and John Adams (68, 10.6%).
The voting itself was a civics lesson wrapped in a novelty item.
Lake County residents cast ballots using official touchscreen voting equipment at the Board of Elections — the same machines used in actual elections — as well as online. Casement, who lived from 1840 to 1928, and her husband, Gen. John S. Casement, opened their Painesville home as a stop on the Underground Railroad, helping freedom seekers make their way north. After the Civil War, she rose to lead the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, working alongside Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the push for women’s right to vote.
“America 250 is about honoring our shared history and the democratic ideals that define our nation,” Lake County Commissioner John T. Plecnik said in a statement. “In voting to honor Frances Jennings Casement, we’re recognizing a figure whose legacy of courage and advocacy continues to inspire our community today.”
The bobblehead is part of Lake County’s broader America 250 celebration marking the nation’s semiquincentennial. The winning design will be unveiled — and given away free to the first 1,000 visitors — at the Lake County Fair on Aug. 1.
For more on Lake County’s America 250 events, visit tourlakecounty.com/america250.