Accusations of voter suppression poured in from across the Seattle area this week after it was discovered that King Couny Elections mailed general election ballots without “I Voted” stickers.
“I was prepared to see all kinds of horrible voter suppression tactics happen in other parts of the country, but I never thought that our own King County Elections would stoop so low as to deprive our local electorate of stickers,” said local voter Sarah Crayson. “How are we supposed to vote without being able to walk around with a little sticker on us that says we did? How will people who haven’t voted yet know we’re better than them?
Although King County Election officials denied the sticker-deprivation allegations, saying that “I Voted’ stickers are still available at seven vote centers and at staffed drop boxes, local residents say this presents a clear, deliberate and inequitable barrier to voting sticker access.
“Even Florida sends its mail-in voters fuzzy, scratch-and-sniff ‘I Voted’ stickers featuring Donald Trump’s ass,” said local voting sticker rights advocate Dan Mallory. “Other states have community art contests during the summer to determine what goes on their ‘I Voted’ stickers. But, here in King County, the only incentive people get for voting is keeping awful people out of influential seats of power, defeating three of the most awful intiatives that have ever been on our ballot, and not taking for granted voting rights people including the namesake of this county fought and died for us to have.”
At press time, stickerless Seattle voters were seen desperately resorting to other ways of making voting fun like electing alt-grunge band Candlebox bassist and co-writer of their hit single “Far Behind” Bardi Martin for West Electoral District Judge Position No. 1.
