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West Virginia officials invite eighth-graders to design ‘I Voted’ stickers

(Graphic Illustration generated with the use of ChatGPT)

CHARLESTON — The submission deadlines are within the week for the first I Voted sticker contest organized by the Secretary of State of West Virginia and open to all eighth grade students in the state.

I Voted stickers are distributed to voters by poll workers. The next electron is the primary in May.

“We’ve heard from teachers, students and parents from all over the state about the contest,” Secretary of State Kris Warner said. “We are expecting a lot of great participation, and we hope that it helps engage students and their families into the upcoming May 12 primary election.”

The contest encourages eighth grade students in public, private, charter or home schools to design a sticker. Contest rules, deadlines and an entry form are available at GoVoteWV.com.

The county of the winning student will distribute the winning sticker to in-person voters in that county in the 2026 primary election.

Guidelines include:

* Artwork must be original and created by the student. The use of artificial intelligence will not be accepted.

* Design should include the phrase “I Voted” and reflect themes of voting, civic pride and West Virginia identity.

* Design must fit within the circle in the provided template in the guidelines.

* Designs may be in black and white or include up to three colors and white.

* No copyrighted images or logos permitted.

The submission deadline for students attending a public or private school to their teacher is on or before Friday, Jan. 23.

Each school or a parent or guardian of a home-schooled student will submit the design to their respective county clerks by Jan. 27. Submissions to the county clerk may be made by U.S. mail or hand delivered. Submissions must be received by the county clerk by close of business on Jan. 27.

Participating clerks will organize judges to help select the winning artwork and second and third places for their county. The first-place winner in each county will be submitted by the county clerk to the secretary of state by 4:30 p.m. Feb. 5.

Winning county submissions will be separated into four regions and a first-place winner will be selected from each of the four regions by a group of judges. The regional winners will be announced by the secretary of state on or before Feb. 16.

The four first-place winners will then be entered in an online-only voting competition using the official secretary of state’s Facebook page. Online voting with one vote per person will begin Feb. 16 and end at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 27.

The statewide winner will be announced by the secretary of state at the Capitol during West Virginia Civics Learning Week March 9-13.

Locally, Doddridge Pleasants, Ritchie, Tyler, Wetzel, Wirt and Wood counties are in Region 1. Calhoun, Gilmer, Jackson and Roane counties will be in Region 3.

The winning design will be printed and distributed to the winning artist’s county clerk. Voters in the county will receive the winning I Voted sticker in the primary election. Other counties may choose to use the winning sticker design or use a design from their home county.

County winners will be recognized by the secretary of state and featured on official channels.

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