Why Dallas County voters won't get 'I voted' stickers on Election Day

You've probably seen them on your social media feeds already and might be excited to get one on Tuesday: An "I voted" sticker.

While most Iowans can get one during early voting or at the polls on Election Day, at least one metro county will continue not handing out stickers.

Dallas County does not give out "I voted" stickers.

Dallas County Auditor Julia Helm, who has held the position since 2017, said the county hasn't given out stickers during her tenure because they were improperly placed on walls, underneath voting booths, and in other areas in polling locations during past elections.

"It's difficult already finding polling locations, and we don't want to be kicked out because we have to waste time scraping stickers off the wall," Helm said.

Voters in Polk County will receive variations of the classic "I voted" stickers upon submitting their ballots.

From at least 2002 to 2014, the county stopped giving voters stickers on election day. While the Polk County Auditor's office isn't sure exactly when they started giving out stickers again, voters in Polk County began to receive them sometime in the last decade.

Polk County's neighbor to the north, Story County, does give out stickers for in-person and absentee voting.

While the history of the sticker in the U.S. is hard to pin down, voting stickers became prevalent in the 1980s. In 1987, Intab, an election supply business, introduced its own "I voted" sticker, which featured the now famous stylized American flag on it.

By 2000, Intab was selling more than 100 million "I voted" stickers in every midterm and general election year across the U.S.

More:Everything you should know about races in Iowa for the 2024 election

Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.