New ‘I Voted’ Sticker Design Winner Announced

A new design for West Virginia’s “I Voted” sticker has been selected through a contest organized by Secretary of State Kris Warner’s office.  

As Warner noted when he announced the winner, most voters want their sticker as soon as they complete their ballot. But most of those are generic.  

This year, Warner’s office organized a contest for eighth grade students to design a new sticker. Overall, there were more than 1,100 entries from 42 counties. Each county chose a winning design, and then the contest was narrowed to four regional winners.  

“We gather here in this beautiful chamber to recognize the winners of West Virginia’s first ever ‘I Voted’ sticker contest,” Warner said. “This sticker contest has been an exciting new way to engage our young people, our schools, our parents, our teachers, our county clerks and our communities. And what better time to honor their work than this year, as we look towards America’s 250th anniversary.” 

The contest saw slightly fewer than 16,000 votes, which Warner noted was more votes than were cast in 54 of the 55 counties for the last non-presidential primary in 2022.  

The four regional winners were:  

• Mackenzie Blizzard; Trinity Christian School, Monongalia County 
  

• Arabella Piccolomini; Shepherdstown Middle School, Jefferson County 
  

• Ellie Crislip; Ripley Middle School, Jackson County 
  

• Reese Childers, Shady Spring Middle School, Raleigh County 

Childers was the overall winner.  

“It’s very important to vote,” she said. “You really need to get out there and do it, even if you don’t feel like it. You probably should, because then you’ll have your sticker on your chest. My sticker on your chest.” 

Warner noted that the contest allowed up to three colors to be used, but Childers’ design was black and white.  

“The more you look at that design, the more that it kind of jumps out,” Warner said. “You get everything from the rhododendron, the black bear, the honeybee, Monarch butterfly, Cardinal. Very neat.” 

“I just really felt like everything in West Virginia, like the nature and all of our symbols are very beautiful and very outstanding, and you can really like see the colors that come up behind it, and it will hopefully encourage more people to get out and see these natural beauties,” Childers said.  

Warner noted that Childers’ home county of Raleigh will automatically receive the stickers, and it is up to the other county clerks to choose them if they want. Some counties are choosing to use their stickers based on their individual county winners.