More than one million Santa Clara County voters, including every registered voter in Palo Alto, will find a student-designed "I Voted" sticker tucked into their Vote by Mail packets for the Tuesday, November 3 General Election.
The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters announced Monday, July 27, that six student artists won the county's first-ever sticker design contest. Their artwork will become the official "I Voted" stickers distributed countywide beginning in October, when mail ballots go out.
The contest drew 203 submissions from students in elementary school through college and trade school. The Registrar's office narrowed the field to 30 finalists, then opened a public online vote that attracted more than 10,000 ballots. Originally, the office planned to pick one winner in each of three age categories. It expanded to six winners after seeing the range of finalist designs and the level of community response.
"Whether they celebrated Santa Clara County or simply made people smile, these designs gave students a creative way to take part in civic life," Registrar of Voters Matt Moreles said in the announcement. "… We hope their work puts a smile on each voter's face and makes the voting experience just a little more memorable."
All six designs will also be available at in-person Vote Centers. Every student who submitted artwork will receive a personal letter from Moreles and a printed set of stickers featuring their own design.
Why it matters for Palo Alto
The stickers will land in mailboxes alongside a consequential local ballot. The Palo Alto City Council unanimously placed a half-cent sales tax measure on the November 3 ballot on June 8. That measure, called the Community Safety/Services Measure, would generate roughly $15.6 million a year, primarily to fund the city's $65.5 million purchase of 7 additional acres at Cubberley Community Center from PAUSD, according to city documents. It needs a simple majority to pass.
A separate regional measure, Connect Bay Area, also appears on the November ballot. That proposal would add another half-cent sales tax across five Bay Area counties to raise an estimated $14 billion for mass transit over 14 years.
Palo Alto contracts with the County Registrar to administer its elections, so the same office running the sticker contest is the one mailing and counting the city's ballots.
What's next
Details on each winning design and artist are posted at sccvote.org/sticker. Mail ballots for Palo Alto voters are expected to go out in early October ahead of the November 3 election.
