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Gripe all you want, Chicago not bringing back ‘I voted’ stickers

Chicagoans may have taken to social media to complain about not getting “I voted” stickers after casting their ballots in Tuesday’s primary, but that isn’t doing much to sway city election officials.

In other words, don’t expect to see them pop up — or make a comeback, the city issued them years ago — in polling places during the November general election, said Jim Allen, a spokesman for Chicago’s Board of Election Commissioners.

Stickers don’t drive turnout, Allen said. “Voters come to the polls for the candidates, contests and issues on the ballots, not stickers,” he said. “If stickers were so important, why does Chicago pretty much always beat suburban Cook County in turnout?”

In Chicago, 51 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in the primary; suburban Cook County’s turnout was 47 percent.

The city’s election board stopped handing out stickers decades ago because custodians and building owners where polling places set up shop complained about scraping stickers off doors, doorways and windowsills, Allen said. The city didn’t want to lose polling places, so it got rid of the stickers instead, he said.

Suburban Cook County has been handing out stickers to voters with the exception of those who vote by mail at least since the early 2000s, said James Scalzitti, a spokesman for the Cook County clerk’s office, which oversees suburban elections. The office hasn’t received any complaints about stickers being stuck on walls or doorways, he said.

Last year, the office ordered about 2.5 million stickers intended to last five elections at a price tag of $8,900, Scalzitti said. One roll with 250 stickers on it comes out to 89 cents, so the cost per sticker is less than a penny, he said.

Allen could not provide the cost for printing the paper receipts given to Chicago voters but said they are less expensive than stickers. . Stickers have a useful life of a few hours, but paper ballot receipts are more durable, he said.

Some Chicagoans did post selfies with their paper ballot receipts.

The county office views the stickers as a voter outreach tool, Scalzitti said. “It gets people talking about the election, it reminds them to get out and vote, it helps build excitement and enthusiasm for the election, and all in a nonpartisan way, no matter which candidate or candidates you’re supporting,” he said.

DePaul University political science professor Zachary Cook said he is pro-sticker and thinks stickers can provide two benefits to Chicagoans, although they might not be the best use of taxpayer dollars when the city is still in a budget crisis.

“They might provide an incredibly marginal boost in participation because they would remind a handful, perhaps, of marginal voters that it is in fact Election Day,” he said. He said one study suggested that nonpartisan signs near polling places may give an extremely small bump in participation of 1 to 3 percentage points. It’s possible stickers could have a similar effect.

“The bigger benefit, though, which can’t be measured, is I think we ought to try and make voting as prestigious an act as possible. We ought to make people feel good about voting,” Cook said.

Voters love the stickers, Scalzitti said. “People take great pride in having cast their vote, and a sticker that says ‘I voted’ is a way for them to share this feeling with everyone else,” he said.

lvivanco@tribpub.com

Twitter @lvivanco