My Search for a Sticker

I voted today in the first presidential election of my life, and you know what? I feel pretty good about it. I drove all the way home to Clarkston, Mi to vote this afternoon with my parents, and I was really excited to cast my vote and exercise my right as a US citizen.

So, most of you know that when you cast a vote on election day, you get an “I voted” sticker. These stickers have been quite the conversation piece today on Facebook and Twitter, because a lot of students here at MSU had to vote absentee– and a sticker isn’t included with their ballot. (I know, right? Let’s make that change for the next election!) Well, because I traveled home to go to the polls with my parents, I was really excited for my sticker–only to discover after I cast my vote that my polling station was fresh out of them.

Now maybe I got a little sad and a little whiny, and maybe a girl who was 11 or so standing at the door of the church gave me her “I voted” sticker because she felt bad for me. Regardless if that happened or not (it did, it totally did) I am not ashamed! Because to me, that sticker isn’t just a small adhesive piece of paper, it’s a way to personally broadcast that I voted today, and that I made a difference!

I missed being eligible to vote the last presidential election in 2008 by about 8 months (bummer, right?) so being able to showcase that I voted was really really important me, as I know it was to a lot of others as well.

So what if I bummed the sticker off of the child….