Home United States USA — Art The ‘I Voted’ Sticker: An Election Tradition, Even in a Pandemic

The ‘I Voted’ Sticker: An Election Tradition, Even in a Pandemic

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The stickers, popular since the 1980s, are a hot Election Day accessory. Didn’t get one? Download and share one of our designs.
Did you vote? We created virtual voting stickers for you to download, especially for people who did not receive one. Find them below and share them on social media along with a sentence about how it felt to participate in this election, using the hashtag #nytelection. We plan to share a selection on the @nytimes social media accounts. If a United States citizen casts a vote but doesn’t receive an “I Voted” sticker to prove it, does the vote really count? Of course, but that doesn’t diminish the Election Day appeal of an “I Voted” sticker, which many Americans who have performed their civic duty display proudly on their chests. As postvoting selfies overtake Instagram algorithms, an “I Voted” sticker is a must-have accessory to prove that you did, in fact, do your part. But with more people voting by mail than ever before because of the pandemic, filling out ballots from beds and kitchen tables, many have not received a civic duty souvenir. Because many jurisdictions don’t distribute the stickers with mail-in ballots, some voters have gotten creative this year by making their own, downloading digital decals or affixing virtual “I Voted” stickers to their Facebook or Instagram posts. Sure, it might be just a small, sticky piece of paper, but to many it’s symbolic of much more. Ben Hovland, the chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, a federal agency that serves as a liaison with state election officials, said he collects “I Voted” stickers and uses them to cover his notebooks. Among his favorites: one from Douglas County, Nev., that says “I Voted” in Braille; a George Rodrigue Blue Dog design from Louisiana; and a New York City sticker that borrowed from the subway map. “It’s a way for people to show off their civic pride, that communal feeling,” Mr.

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