Last week, Selena Gomez posted a video on her TikTok before her appearance on the Wizards Beyond Waverly Place red carpet. In it, she wore a fully sequined Rodarte dress and a Roger Vivier clutch. Posing for the camera, she proudly displayed an accessory on her accessory: An “I Voted” sticker was freshly pressed onto her satin Vivier bag. Gomez had just voted early in Los Angeles County and had the sticker to prove it!
Today, as Americans queue up to vote, most of them will come away with a badge of honor—a nonpartisan sticker to announce to friends and passersby that they have done their civic duty. While we can all take inspiration from Gomez and sport the sticker any which way we like (including a red carpet getup!), it’s worth noting that not all stickers look alike.
Gomez voted in Los Angeles County and received a sticker designed and distributed by the local government. Her circular sticker features an American flag motif and “I Voted” in block text lettering on top. On the bottom, the words “I Voted” appear in 12 other different languages: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, Armenian, Persian, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Thai, Vietnamese—as a nod to the county’s diverse makeup. It’s a design that’s been in use since 2018.
According to Kathleen R. McGrath, Director of Public Information at the New York State Board of Elections, “The decision to distribute stickers is up to the local County Board of Elections. County Boards can choose to design, purchase, and hand them out to voters if they wish.”
But where did the tradition begin? Our nation has held elections since 1788 but it seems it took nearly two centuries for the small adhesives to…stick. According to a recent feature in the magazine AARP, the sticker craze originated with a business owner named Janet Boudreau. As the then-owner of Intab—an election supply company offering voting booths, signs, and more—Boudreau thought stickers would be a good addition. It was 1987, and she designed a white oval sticker with a rippling American flag to the left and “I Voted” in a blue serif font to the right. Boudreau recalls sketching it at her dining room table ahead of the 1988 election between George H. W. Bush and Dan Quayle.
The idea caught on, and Boudreau remembers the sticker being ubiquitous by election day. But the complete sticker story can be a little complicated: A 1982 Miami Herald article cites stickers in use since the 1950s. And the Phoenix Association of Realtors has also claimed to be the first to hand out the little proofs of civic duty.
Fast forward to the present, and the stickers have become a beloved way to add a bit of bipartisan joy to election day—and an almost required element of any post-ballot selfie. (It’s worth a reminder that it’s not legal in many places to take a selfie while you’re actually in the polling place.) The stickers can have regional specificity; a New York City sticker that featured the subway map found itself at the center of a controversy. (There is no subway in Staten Island, objectors pointed out.) And in Orange County, Florida, home to Disney World, an orange and green, Tropicana-colored sticker featured an outline of the Disney castle. In 2020, when many voted by mail due to pandemic concerns, some outlets and publications offered digital downloadable “stickers” to try to mimic the experience.
Some counties even host design competitions to get the public involved. In 2022, 14-year-old Hudson Rowan entered the “I Voted” sticker contest in Ulster County, New York, with a sketch of a deranged spider robot creature in pink and purple, with red-bloodshot eyes. To the surprise of all, most notably his mother, the design won and was distributed.
Since then, more and more counties have opened the design content to local children who might not be satisfied with their “future voter” stickers. Genesee County, Albany County, Tompkins County, and Livingston County are among the regions that will be offering kid-designed stickers this election day. And here in New York City, early voters on October 31 were eligible for special edition “Halloween Voter 2024” stickers. The design is distinctly Halloweeny—and possibly the best addition to any costume.
More of the best stickers of 2024
As more and more voters head out to the polls, more stickers will appear. Below, we round up some of our favorite stickers across the country—so far.
