Introduction

In the US, the voter turnout rate is lower than in other established democracies, which can be attributed to political disengagement or beliefs that voting for candidates will have little effect on public policy. To increase voter turnout and incentivize democratic participation, numerous campaigns and initiatives were launched, including the “I Voted” sticker contests.

States hold unique “I Voted” stickers contests to draw attention to elections

Behind the “I Voted” Sticker

Incentivizing people to vote remains the main headache of the many campaigns to combat voter disengagement, so how do stickers play a role in this complicated equation?

Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, deputy editor at Co.Design emphasizes the startling truth of participating in democracy:

While we might like to think of it as a noble pursuit, voting is deeply tied to more base human feelings and motivations, like social standing–basically, wanting to show off how good we are–along with dishonesty and shame.

It all boils down to this: Many of us vote so that we can tell everyone else we voted. And we don’t want to have to lie about it if we didn’t.

The question of why people go or don’t go to the pools remains “a problem that has confounded governments and designers alike for decades,” and based off the paper Voting To Tell Others, it turns out that people are simply more likely to vote if they knew they would be asked. This social pressure results in a startling simple statement: “people don’t like having to say they voted if they didn’t”, and in turn liking to advertise that they voted if they did in fact vote.

This is where the “I voted” stickers come into play. They allow people to publicly announce that they participated, and the idea “that *someone’s definitely going to ask you whether you voted”* is “incredibly powerful to our socially minded pack animal brains” — ultimately becoming an incentive to drive people to the polls.

Political campaigns themselves spend millions to drive supporters to the polls, often with a potent mixture of fear and anger. Yet the simplest tactic might just be giving people a way to brag about voting–through an actual sticker, or a Facebook or Instagram status.

— Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

How Design Can Incentivize Voting

It is beyond question that graphic design has a huge influence on social and political conditions. Design is a visual articulation of an inner will, an active and reactive force, both for good and bad. The question that really matters is in whose hands it resides.

— Harry Pearce, graphic designer and partner at Pentagram

This article focuses on the numerous campaigns launched by organizations in collaboration with Pentagram, “an acclaimed creative collective, where 23 partners work independently and collaboratively to shape the future of design.”