Creative “I Voted” stickers transcend the familiar flag design

Local News

CONCORD, NH (AP) — Whether scenic or barely scary, indignant werewolf, anyone? — The designs on the front of the “I Voted” stickers are getting numerous attention this 12 months. But have you ever ever thought concerning the back of your Election Day souvenir?

“Clothing-safe adhesive, that’s incredibly important,” said Janet Boudreau, a sticker designer. “You can ruin leather, silk and fine wool if you don’t use a garment-safe adhesive on fabric stickers.”

Boudreau should know. She designed the enduring sticker that has been a fixture at polling places for many years: a straightforward ellipse with a wavy red, white and blue American flag. And regardless that the corporate she once owned now has competition, she's excited concerning the recent versions popping up across the country, lots of them designed by kids.

“I’m all for it,” she said. “And I’m all for younger people getting involved, understanding and believing in the power of voting.”

Two years ago, New York county stickers featuring a wild-eyed crab-like creature created by a 14-year-old boy caused an internet sensation. This 12 months's hit – one among nine designs sold in Michigan – contains a werewolf tearing his shirt in front of an American flag.

The 12-year-old designer from Michigan declined an interview request, but other young artists reported rewarding experiences.

In Milton, New Hampshire, 10-year-old Grace was treated like a celeb as she visited the polls for the January presidential primary and March local elections.

“I definitely noticed a difference in everyone’s attitude. Everyone seemed happier and more excited to vote because they got a cool sticker that I designed,” she said. “And I think it’s really cool that I’ve influenced how people vote and how they think about voting.”

The New Hampshire competition was open to fourth graders and received greater than 1,000 entries. Grace, whose design features the state's fallen but forgotten Old Man of the Mountain rock formation, not only got to attend a pizza party on the Statehouse, but has been pen pals with one among the opposite two winners ever since.

While Grace quickly selected her design, 11-year-old Rilynn created three versions and let her family vote on her favorite. The winner? A moose stands on a ledge overlooking colourful fall foliage and the state's highest mountain.

Like Grace, she was excited to see her stickers in motion earlier this 12 months.

“They had a huge stack of stickers and people were literally picking out my sticker,” she said. “When my father got there, he didn’t have one.”

Not all recent stickers are designed by children.

In Denver, incarcerated people created two stickers, one featuring the Colorado flag with a brick constructing, a sun and purple mountains, and the “D” in “voted.” The aim of the design competition was to advertise civic engagement and promote a way of purpose and community.

In King County, Washington, a graphic designer developed a sticker that shows the Seattle cityscape at the highest and the landscape at the underside. And a contest for adults and students in San Francisco was won by illustrator Hollis Callas, which featured flowers, birds, a seal, the Golden Gate Bridge and “I Voted” in multiple languages.

“I love it,” said Allison Tichenor, who picked up a sticker when she voted earlier this week. “It’s beautiful, just like the city.”

Tichenor and others said they enjoy wearing the stickers to remind others to vote.

“I think they're important because you never know who it might inspire to vote,” said Deanna Long of Raleigh, North Carolina, who went to a Kamala Harris rally on Wednesday and carried a voter sticker on her bag that said a toddler depicted on a purple mane was a unicorn.

“The designs were fun and came from young children who rely on others to provide their needs,” Long said. “The value of voting will hopefully become clearer to younger generations and I hope the artwork inspires them too.”

In 2019, the US Election Assistance Commission launched a national best sticker competition to acknowledge progressive best practices in election administration. Recent winners include the Sante Fe County Clerk's Office in New Mexico, where the competition focused specifically on the “Future Voter” and “First-Time Voter” stickers.

“Elections are difficult, and these “I Voted” sticker contests usually are not only an ideal solution to engage the community, but additionally some creativity and fun,” said Benjamin Hovland, Chairman of the Bipartisan Federal Commission.

Jason Wickersty actually showed creativity with the sticker, which he created from pork rolls, a processed meat popular in New Jersey referred to as Taylor ham. He shared a photograph of the meat stuck to his shirt on the social platform X in 2020 and explained himself in an email this week.

“We Jerseyans are deeply proud and constant to our state, and because it has not yet made official 'I Voted' slices of pork buns, I cut a slice with an X-Acto knife and made my very own quintessentially Jersey 'I Voted' carved “badge,” he said.

Although a author once called her the “real Betsy Ross” of “I Voted” stickers, Boudreau wasn’t the primary to supply them. But it managed to dominate the market. In 2000, about 13 years after she created the design at her kitchen table, her campaign company sold greater than 100 million stickers every two years before she sold the corporate in 2015. Officials there didn’t reply to an email requesting current sales figures.

The stickers were originally intended to diversify the corporate's offerings and attract recent business, said Boudreau, who remembers her 6-year-old son adding the colourful stickers to the black-and-white ads she sent out to potential customers.

“But it just made people happy,” she said. “It opened doors for us and made voters happy.”