How 'I Voted' stickers became an Election Day staple
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- Janet Boudreau, who owned the election supply business Intab, designed an "I Voted" sticker in 1987.
- Her sticker became one of the most popular. Intab now sells over 100 million stickers every year.
- In recent years, some states have held "I Voted" sticker design contests with unusual winners.
When Janet Boudreau walks into her local polling place to cast a ballot and collect a classic "I Voted" sticker with an American flag, most people don't know she's part of the reason they receive the stickers in the first place.
One of the earliest mentions of "I Voted" stickers dates back to a 1982 Miami Herald article about discounts offered to customers wearing the stickers, Time magazine reported. Even so, stickers were rarely given out on Election Day until 1987, when Boudreau took over Intab, her father's election supply business then based in Seattle. As she worked to expand Intab's offerings, she also had the idea to create stickers to be handed out at voting booths across the country.
"'I Voted' stickers were not prevalent at all. They were hardly ever seen," Boudreau said. "In fact, I only saw a black-and-white version that had a check mark or an X. It was not in color, and there was no image of a flag or anything else on it, so it was definitely not inspiring."
Boudreau hand-drew a design featuring the words "I Voted" with a waving American flag, a patriotic symbol of fulfilling one's civic duty. It went on to become one of Intab's bestselling products. By 2012, the company sold over 100 million stickers across all 50 states and US territories.
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Boudreau sold Intab in 2015 and now coaches other entrepreneurs on how to grow their businesses. While her American flag stickers still appear in many election offices across America, some counties and states have begun holding sticker design contests for school-aged children to involve them in the democratic process.
The results are occasionally unusual. In 2022, 14-year-old Hudson Rowan designed Ulster County, New York's "I Voted" sticker featuring a wide-eyed face with bloodshot eyes atop a spider's body. In the 2024 election, the winner of Michigan's "I Voted" sticker contest depicts a werewolf ripping off its shirt in front of an American flag. Submitted by 12-year-old Jane Hynous, the design appeared to amuse Vice President Kamala Harris as she greeted voters at a barber shop in Pontiac, a video on X showed.
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Boudreau loves the creativity.
"Oh, the more the merrier," she said. "If kids can begin thinking about the power of voting, then that's all the better. I think it's fabulous."