Why Suffolk County bucked the trend and declined to buy 'I Voted' stickers

Voting is a bedrock of democracy. But getting an "I Voted" sticker depends on where you vote.

New York City and Nassau’s boards of elections produce millions of stickers. Some voters in those places and across the country don the stickers with pride, affix the stickers to the back of their cellphones and post images on social media, a souvenir of enfranchisement.

But not so much in Suffolk, where the board has decided it’s a waste of money.

"It’s everybody’s God-given right to vote in this great country, but unfortunately it’s just not prudent to use taxpayer money to buy stickers for what we're calling a participation trophy," Now-U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) told a radio interviewer in 2018 when he was a Republican elections commissioner for the county.

The cost then was $20,000, LaLota said. His office didn’t return a message this week seeking comment.

The precise origins of the "I Voted" sticker are unknown but some sources attribute a modern version that became popular to a woman named Janet Boudreau. In the late 1980s, she drew up a rough draft of what would become the "I Voted" sticker for her family-owned company, according to an account in AARP’s magazine.

And less than 15 years later, the company was selling stickers — 100 million of them — in every state, in every election, including the midterms.

Someone who answered the phone at a Nevada number registered to Boudreau declined to comment.

According to a federal Election Assistance Commission report, "During elections, these stickers remind us of our important right to vote ... They are displayed on items like clothing, laptops, water bottles and social media profiles, serving as a powerful symbol."

It's not all sticker-free in Suffolk, where some private civic organizations distribute stickers to voters commemorating having cast a ballot.

Some of the four chapters of the League of Women Voters of Suffolk County distribute the stickers and have for years and maybe even decades, said Janalyn Travis-Messer, a member and former president.

Travis-Messer, who isn’t affiliated with any party, voted Democrat early on Shelter Island, where she lives.

“I have mine,” she said with a laugh, adding: “I love getting them.”

An official at county Board of Elections, Gail Lolis, said there was no cost estimate but noted there are more than 1 million voters in Suffolk. She said the cost would be too great on top of other expenses such as stamps for absentee ballots.

Bryan Sokolowski, the county Democrats’ political director, said he’d like to see the county distribute the stickers. Perhaps local school children could compete for the design as a drawing competition, he said.

"We would love our voters to have ‘I Voted’ stickers," Sokolowski said. "It’s like a memento for actually getting to vote ... It would potentially boost civic engagement."

In Nassau, the county distributes the "I Voted" stickers as well as those for early voting, according to an email from board staff.

The stickers have been distributed for at least 15 years, with the early variant dating to 2019.

"Providing 'I Voted' stickers helps promote voter participation, encourage civic engagement and allows voters to proudly show that they participated in the democratic process," the email said. "We get many requests for stickers and they are something that voters seem to enjoy."

The email said the board ordered about 900 rolls, at a cost of $5,600, covered by "various grants that are available to County Boards for increasing voter participation" and include "‘I Voted Today’, ‘I Voted Early’ and ‘Future Voter’ (will also be used for High School Demos)."

In the city, there are even more granular variants, including for Halloween, the New York City Marathon and the World Cup, according to board of elections spokesperson Vincent M. Ignizio.

Newsday's John Asbury contributed to this story.