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Minnesota residents vote, and they want you to know it
BRIAN EDWARDS, Associated PressMar 2, 2017 Updated 14 hrs ago
Andrew Link / alink@postbulletin.com
"I Voted" stickers.
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/state/minnesota-residents-vote-and-they-want-you-to-know-it/article_f9...3/3/2017
Minnesota residents vote, and they want you to know it | Minnesota | postbulletin.comPage 2 of 3
ST. PAUL — Minnesota residents love to show off their red "I Voted" stickers, but absentee and mail-
only voters are feeling snubbed.
Turns out that few counties knew they could send the stickers with ballots in the mail, so one
lawmaker drafted legislation to expressly allow counties to mail the stickers and to distribute them at
polling places during early voting.
The little red stickers have become a fixture for voters leaving the polls since their inception in the
early 1990s. Ramsey County elections manager Joe Manksy helped create the original design when
he worked for then-Secretary of State Joan Growe, but he didn't have much faith when his boss first
came to him with the idea.
"Who in their right mind wants to wear one of these
stickers around?" Manksy said he thought at the time.
But to his surprise, voters loved the stickers — and
they've been an Election Day badge of honor ever
since.
Rep. Peter Fischer, the bill's author, said he has
wanted to clarify the rules ever since being contacted
by an absentee voter. The Maplewood Democrat said
the constituent told him he always votes before
Election Day but never gets to show his participation on the big day.
Manksy said state officials are always looking for new ways to encourage voting in Minnesota, where
voter turnout is consistently near the top of the nation. The stickers, he said, have become an
important part of that push. During the November election, his office had more than 16,000 early
voters, and he said many asked whether there were longer-lasting "I Voted" buttons to wear for the
weeks preceding elections.
A House committee heard the bill Wednesday but didn't take a vote. The panel instead set the issue
aside for possible inclusion in a larger elections bill later in the session.
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/state/minnesota-residents-vote-and-they-want-you-to-know-it/article_f9...3/3/2017
Minnesota residents vote, and they want you to know it | Minnesota | postbulletin.comPage 3 of 3
Under the legislation, counties would not be required to distribute the stickers with ballots, but eager
voters would know they could ask and counties would know there are options to get the stickers —
and display voter pride — ahead of Election Day.
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/state/minnesota-residents-vote-and-they-want-you-to-know-it/article_f9...3/3/2017