Whatcom County is holding a public contest to choose the next official "I Voted" sticker design, and residents have just one week left to weigh in. Voting closes at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 29, 2026. Residents can cast their vote online through the county's official voting form.
The contest invites the public to choose from several candidate designs submitted for consideration. "I Voted" stickers have become one of the small but visible symbols of civic participation -- handed out at drop boxes and polling places to people who return their ballots. In recent years, counties and jurisdictions across Washington State have used design contests to make the stickers more locally specific and to engage residents in a lighthearted civic activity alongside the more serious business of elections.
Washington State uses an all-mail voting system, meaning Whatcom County voters receive their ballots by mail and can return them by mail, at drop boxes, or at the Elections Office. The "I Voted" sticker is typically distributed at physical drop box locations and at the elections office when voters drop off their ballots in person. The winning design will appear on stickers distributed during future Whatcom County elections.
The Whatcom County Auditor's Office oversees elections administration for the county, including voter registration, ballot distribution, and drop box operations. The county has a history of high voter participation relative to statewide averages, and the sticker contest is part of ongoing efforts to maintain visible engagement with the electoral process between major election cycles.
For Whatcom County residents who want their design to win, the deadline matters. The vote closes at 4:30 p.m. sharp on May 29 -- the same day the county announced the one-week remaining window. Voting is open to anyone who wants to participate, and the county has not indicated any residency restriction for casting a sticker preference vote.
The winning sticker design will be announced after the contest closes. Information on where to vote in the contest is available through whatcomcounty.us and was shared via the county's official social media channels. For residents who want to stay connected to Whatcom County civic news, the county's newsflash page posts updates on government activities, public meetings, and upcoming deadlines.
For more on civic engagement opportunities in Whatcom County, recent coverage of the Superior Court's new public-facing courtroom offers a look at other investments in county civic infrastructure.
