Though it feels like the 2016 presidential election has still not ended, the city is gearing up for its next bloody political battle—the 2017 mayoral election, which is now only 232 days away, AREN'T YOU SO EXCITED?1!?!?!!! But before we all drown in a sea of de Blasio-at-the-gym thinkpieces, budding artists will have a chance to design a new "I Voted" sticker, as part of a competition the city launched today.
The NYC Campaign Finance Board is encouraging New Yorkers to submit their original sticker designs through April 14th. The Board will pick a handful of finalists that the public can then vote on. The city promises that the winning design "will be printed and distributed on 'I Voted' stickers on Election Day for years to come," provided your polling site remembers to hand them out in the first place. The competition requires artists to a) stick the phrase "I voted" somewhere in the design, and b) fit the design into a circle-shaped sticker with a two-inch diameter, plus there are a few other eligibility and design-related rules to peruse before submitting, which you can check out here.
The city launched its first sticker design competition in 2013. The winner was then-10 year old Zoe Markman, who worked with her then-12 year old brother to create the Statue of Liberty-bearing sticker we've used for the last few elections. Zoe, who is now 14, still can't vote, though she told the Times that "it’s nice seeing the grown-ups wear" her design.
Sadly, Zoe's sticker is going in the trash, and she'll never get to wear it. Sorry, kid. But YOU, dear reader, may be able to don your own design, be it a picture of de Blasio's elliptical machine or a broken ballot scanner or a subway rat sprinting down the tracks at Chambers Street, free from the chains of capitalist democracy. Just a few brainstorming ideas.
