Election news recently has been filled with trauma, combativeness, accusations and a lot of other ugly things – however, there is at least one bit of election news for Guilford County that should make just about everyone pleased.
The beloved “I Voted,” stickers that were so proudly worn in past elections – but absent from the 2020 general election – will be returning in future elections.
Many of the things people enjoyed about pre-pandemic life will likely not return after the pandemic subsides. However, Guilford County Board of Elections Director Charlie Collicutt said this week that his office is bringing back the “I Voted” stickers.
Collicutt said the removal of the well-liked stickers in 2020 was done to prevent the possibility of spreading the virus.
“Those were very popular,” Collicutt said of the stickers. “We were just trying to cut down on things that were touched.”
The county’s elections department also got rid of community pens that were in the past used by one person after another, and, of course, the department used wide open spaces for polling places and kept the voting booths a great distance apart.
In Guilford County, the stickers are an outward display of having taken part in the electoral process – one that many wear proudly just to announce to the world that they voted. In some parts of the country, however, businesses offer discounts on election day when a patron is wearing the sticker.
According to a Time Magazine article, it seems likely that the stickers first came about in the 1980s. Time Magazine stated that, in October 1982, a Miami Herald article noted that small businesses in Fort Lauderdale were offering discounts to customers who were wearing “I Voted” stickers.
In 1986, a nationwide campaign supply company began selling the stickers.
My dog, Miss B, really missed her sticker in 2020. Proudly displaying her photo with a pen hanging on her collar to show she’d voted just didn’t excite her the way her stickers have in years past.