In a world full of people stuck on selfies, the “I Voted” sticker is the perfect accessory.
For some, the sticker is a badge of honor and a celebration of showing up.
Ramsey County Elections manager, Joe Manksy, has watched millions of stickers flood social media. He is most proud of the designs signaling people voted in Minnesota. After all, he is the man behind it.
“I thought it was a crazy idea. My boss at the time, Secretary of State Joan Growe, came back from a national meeting and told me about these 'I Vote' stickers from another state," he said. "She asked me to put together something that we could use here. We put together this very simple design that you see today. I had no idea that anyone would be remotely interested in wearing one of these things.”
That was in 1994. And he said the primary sticker color of red was chosen because it has a greater visual weight.
“I came up with the red color because I learned as a college student … that red is the easiest color to see. Stop lights and stop signs are red for a reason,” he said. “If we want something noticed and visible red is our only choice.”
In Minnesota, the Secretary of State ordered 6.5 million stickers for the November midterm election.
The total cost was about $24,000. When you crunch the numbers, a spokesperson with the Secretary of State’s office said three stickers cost a penny. The leftover stickers will be used during the 2020 Election.
Ramsey County also offers buttons.
But do these stickers convince people to vote?
“I don't have any empirical evidence along those lines. I have to believe that someone out there, on some Election Day, who didn't intend to vote, after seeing all the people wear them may have come to the conclusion, 'Maybe I should vote today,'” Mansky said. “If it encourages even one person who would not have voted to make the decision to vote on Election Day, that is a small price to pay for democracy.”