The Reason You May Not Have Received Your “I Voted” Sticker in Rockford

Is the "I Voted" sticker the equivalent of getting a gold star in elementary school? As adults, this is the only time we give a you-know-what about getting a sticker. How did it start? When did it start? Why do we care so much about these stickers?

I did some searching and found a little nugget of information on the backstory of the "I Voted" sticker. It may have begun in Florida back in the early '80s, according to TIME.

An Oct. 29, 1982, Miami Herald article may contain the earliest mention of such a sticker, in a discussion of how small businesses in Fort Lauderdale were offering discounts to customers wearing “I Voted” stickers.

The next mention of these stickers took place in Arizona a few years later and the rest is history. Fast forward to today, 2020, and these stickers have become a "badge of honor", so to speak. The proof lies within social media, where people who did not get their "I Voted" sticker and expressed anger over this. "Way to go, Illinois" was one of the statuses I scrolled past. But, this is not the state's fault per se. Like everything else in life right now, blame it on 2020.

The freak out might be due to the deals and discounts that come along with wearing the aforementioned sticker into stores and restaurants. Also, let's be real, people need that "I Voted" selfie to further cram their political views down your throat on social media in a last-minute bid to tell you why their candidate is better than yours.

I received my sticker after voting in Byron. They were partially stuck to the ballot machine, perfect for a grab-and-go situation. However, some voters may night have received the stickers out of an abundance of caution. In early October, the City of Rockford Board of Election Commissioners said they would not be handing out "I Voted" stickers for the 2020 presidential election due to COVID-19 concerns.

Even if you did not get the highly coveted "I Voted" sticker, you still did a good job by getting out and voting.

JB Love is ½ of  Q98.5's Lil Zim & JB In The Morning, weekday mornings from 5:00 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.