SALT LAKE CITY— 2020 is the anniversary of two important voting landmarks for women:  When the first woman in America (who was from Utah) cast a vote, and 50 years later the 19th Amendment, which guarantees a woman’s right to vote, was ratified.  Utah now has new 2020 I Voted stickers honor that. 

“They’re very unique and very different that what we’ve seen in years past, and I think it’s just such a meaningful way to commemorate [these anniversaries,]” says the Lt. Governor’s Chief Of Staff,  Kirsten Rappleye.  She says they put the word out to local artists in a partnership with Better Days 2020, a Utah group recognizing suffrage achievements in Utah for the I Voted stickers. “Parameters were pretty broad, we told them we just wanted to celebrate these anniversaries and are so excited with what we got.” 

150 years ago Seraph Young, from Utah, became the first woman in the US to cast a vote in an election.

50 years later Congress ratified the 19th Amendment which allowed women across the country to vote.

To commemorate those occasions Utah has issued new I Voted stickers. pic.twitter.com/H4xRSa6Zze

— KSL NewsRadio (@kslnewsradio) June 10, 2020

“We are particularly excited about this partnership with the Utah Office of Elections,” said Neylan McBaine, CEO of Better Days 2020. “Our foremothers fought hard for the opportunity to participate civically, and these stickers remind us of the sacrifice they made so women could have a voice in the way we are governed.”

The Utah Office of Elections says that the designs for the stickers were submitted by Utahns of all ages from around the state. The final designs that were chosen for the new 2020 I Voted stickers were submitted by four local artists: Rachel Elizabeth Hafen from Salt Lake City, Caleb Haynes from Provo, Canace Pulfer from Salt Lake City and Brooklyn Cardon from Elk Ridge Middle School. 

The Utah Office of Elections says that stickers, “Will be distributed throughout the months of June and November of this year via some mail-in ballots, at drive-through voting locations and via other means. Precautions will be taken to ensure safety of sticker delivery and distribution in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 “You’ll have to search far and wide if you want to collect them all!” Rappleye says excitedly, adding, “but don’t vote 3 times.”