This year’s edition of the I Voted sticker is a striking piece designed by an Acadiana artist who hopes his work might just nudge a few more people off the sidelines and into voting booths.
Lafayette Artist Tony Bernard was the man behind the design. He says it’s derived from a painting he did, called In Love With Louisiana and sports a reoccurring character of his. “In the last four or five years, I have been doing my Pelican with a crown, which he is called King George. I’ve put him in many different settings so I just felt it fitting.”
The last edition featured George Rodrigue’s iconic Blue Dog. Bernard says he had a good laugh when the Secretary of State called and asked him to design this year’s edition. “I kind of chuckled because I had part of designing that sticker as well because I was George Rodrigue’s assistant for 25 years, which they didn’t know when they called and asked me to do this. So, it was pretty neat.”
Louisiana voters were first given I Voted stickers in the 2016 presidential election.
Bernard says he’s tickled to know that his creation will hopefully help draw more people to the polls, and hopes to see turnout in the millions for the fall elections. “You know you hear a lot of whining about how good or bad our state or our country is run, well this is your opportunity to help direct that.”
It cost the state 18,500 dollars to get enough stickers to take us through the October Primary and November Run-Off.
