Creator Recalls Designing First 'I Voted' Sticker

The familiar sticker handed to voters at polling places traces back to one designer and a reaction to a county's plain version in Washington state. Janet Boudreau owns an election supply and voting equipment company. In 1987, she watched a county there hand out a different sticker on Election Day.

That county's sticker was black and white with an X in a square. Boudreau said she found it uninspiring. She went home with a blue and red pen and drew an ellipse with a waving flag. The sticker appeared in a few counties first, then spread. By 1992, she said, distribution was widespread.

Boudreau said she has long backed voting as a right and duty of American citizens to share their voice. She described irritation at hearing people say they forgot an election. "This is the one day that we have to amplify what we want our world to look like," she said. Election memorabilia itself has a long record, including pins, buttons and ribbons, such as those used during the women's suffrage movement in the 1920s.

After taking off in the 1990s, the sticker has branched into other forms. Some versions show state-specific images. Others take the form of future voter patches. Contests have invited children to design their own stickers.

Boudreau said the goal is to inspire Americans to vote. She described the sticker as a badge of honor. She said she hopes it carries on as a promise and a call to action each election cycle. "So get out and vote and then spread the word," she said.