‘I Voted’ stickers are back, and Chicagoans rejoice

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Chicagoans who cast ballots on the first day of early voting were met with a pleasant surprise: The popular “I Voted” stickers the city ditched in 2012 have made a quiet comeback.

As officials geared up for an election marked by the COVID-19 crisis, Chicago Board of Elections Chairwoman Marisel Hernandez said the decision to dump the wristbands handed out in recent years was made to protect poll workers from coming into close contact with voters during the coronavirus pandemic.

But the stickers also serve as a symbol of civic pride, Hernandez said.

“It’s an acknowledgment to a lot of people not only that they voted, but possibly a lot of other things — that they contributed to this election, that they are a part of it,” she said. “With COVID and all of the other things going on, it is just a nice little gift to our voters.”

The stickers, which celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the 19^th Amendment, are also being sent to mail-in voters, some of whom have already taken to social media to express their excitement.

“This sticker is an ABSOLUTE UNIT,” one Twitter user posted on Wednesday.

As voters continue to cast their ballots, Hernandez said she’s “so glad about the enthusiasm.”

The Chicago Board of Elections did away with the stickers — following complaints of that they were being stuck to various surfaces in and around polling places — and replaced them with paper receipts that didn’t elicit the same type of enthusiasm.

Ahead of the 2016 election, officials started passing out the festival-style wristbands that former CBOE spokesman Jim Allen described as a new “emblem for their participation.” While the wristbands offered a more Instagram-friendly alternative to the drab pieces of printer paper, some voters held out hope for a return to the stickers of yesteryear.

“I’ve voted here in Chicago every election since I moved here 8 years ago. Never got a sticker. The chance of getting a sticker is the only reason I vote in person,” a Twiter user wrote on Aug. 4.

Just two days later, Block Club Chicago reported that officials were bringing back the stickers in an effort to protect poll workers pitching in during the pandemic. That same day, a Twitter user rejoiced: “The ultimate status symbol of 2020 is a tie between a face mask and an ‘I voted’ sticker.”

“They’ve come to Chicago at long last.”