Photo of three hand-drawn stickers that each say I Voted. The feature bald eagles, rolling hills, and a smiling person pointing to his ballot.

Check out SLO County's Student-Designed "I Voted" Stickers for 2024

Author: Erin Clausen
Date: 9/12/2024 9:33 AM

Three SLO County students are being honored by the Clerk-Recorder's Office after submitting artwork as part of the county's first "I Voted" sticker design contest. The students attend Old Mission School, San Luis Obispo High School, and Georgia Brown Elementary.

The votes are in and the SLO County Elections Office has two new official “I Voted” sticker designs. The winning designs, by Old Mission School third grader Melanie Rathbun and San Luis Obispo High School senior Joanna Rawlings, were selected from among 20 entries and votes were cast by mayors of the seven SLO County cities.

“The entries were so fun and creative,” said Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano. “It made us very proud to present the mayors with such a great group of designs, and we appreciated their help in determining which entries rose to the top.”

The new stickers will be available at both the San Luis Obispo and Atascadero Elections Offices beginning October 7, and they will be at all polling locations throughout the county on Election Day, November 5.

There were two age divisions, grades 3-6 and grades 7-12. As it turned out, competition was stiff, and the Clerk-Recorder decided to award an additional honorable mention to Rudd Larson, a fifth grader at Georgia Brown Elementary School, who happened to have submitted the very first entry in the inaugural contest. A smaller number of his sticker design will also be printed and available to voters as well.

The American Bald Eagle featured prominently in both of the winning designs. Rathbun’s design also included the words “Liberty,” “Freedom,” and “Justice” and the Liberty Bell, while Rawlings’s design featured the green hills of the San Luis Obispo County landscape.

Cano visited Rathbun, Rawlings, and Larson at their schools on September 12 to personally announce their achievement and to present them with the first copies of their stickers. She is also sending a personal thank you note to each student who entered.

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This story was updated at 2:32 on 9/13/24 to add that the Clerk-Recorder visited all three students at their schools.