Sleepy cat, Edmund Fitzgerald, 'No, yeah': Michigan's 'I Voted' stickers go to the polls

As of 6:55 a.m. ET, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026

For some Michigan voters on Tuesday, the hardest choice of the day might be the sticker.

The state has nine "I Voted" designs this year, all winners of a statewide contest run by the Michigan Department of State. Local election clerks could order the winning stickers to hand out to voters in the November general election, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office said when it announced the winners in August.

Cats, frogs and a freighter

The winners "range from funny and cute to playful nods to Michigan culture," Bridge Michigan reported.

One shows a tired cat saying "I voted now let me sleep." Another features a bunny astronaut declaring "even I voted," and a third shows a dancing frog princess.

Others lean into state pride. There is a tribute to the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Great Lakes freighter that sank in Lake Superior in 1975. Another sticker shows a lighthouse and the Mackinac Bridge. One is based on Michigan's blue license plate, and another features orange road-construction cones. There is also one for Superman ice cream, the red, yellow and blue scoop sold across the Midwest.

Then there is "No, yeah. I voted," named for a Michigan-ism. According to Bridge, that sticker packs in euchre, Michigan lefts and coney dogs.

Four times as many entries

This is the second time the state has held the contest, after it launched in 2024. Entrants submitted 2,095 designs this year, four times as many as two years ago, and the public cast more than 53,000 votes, Benson said.

The idea came from the Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force, a group of college students who advise the Secretary of State's office. Task force members narrowed the entries to 30 semifinalists in each of three categories: elementary and middle school, high school, and a general category open to Michiganders of any age. The public then voted on the finalists. Three winners were picked in each category.

Under the contest rules, every design had to include the words "I voted" and be "nonpartisan in nature." Artwork had to be original and not made with AI, and entries were screened for AI and copyrighted material before the public vote. The finished art is shrunk to a 2-inch circle.

"There were so many creative, beautiful, and endearing depictions of Michigan and its culture across the thousands of submissions sent in," task force chair Blase Johnson said in the state's announcement. He added that he was looking forward to "getting a sticker as a nice bonus."