Voting in America goes back to the 1700s when the United States was becoming its own country. In the 1700s, voting was primarily restricted to white property owners. Some places even screened for religion to make sure those voting were Christian.

By the 1800s, some of the voting restrictions started to back off. The Civil War pushed the 15th amendment stating no one could be denied voting based on their race. While the amendment passed, some states continued to make voting for African American men impossible. They passed laws starting literacy tests, and poll taxes were required, which essentially ruled out voting for non-white men at the time.

In the 1920s, women were granted the right to vote after years of organization and activism. In the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. led marches to bring attention to the suppression of voting from people of color, immigrants, and low-income populations. In 1965 the Voting Rights Act was passed, which stopped the worst policies, like the literacy tests and English language tests, from preventing people to vote. By 1971 president Nixon signed the 26th amendment bringing down the voting age from 21 to 18.

In the 1970s and 80s, the Voting Rights Act was expanded to protect minority languages and people with disabilities. Due to extremely low voter registration, the motor voter law was enacted to allow people to register to vote when they applied for their driver’s license. The effect was huge as over 30 million people registered to vote because of it.

In 2013 the supreme court gutted the Voting Rights Act allowing states to once again put in measures that prevented certain groups from voting. Ruth Bater Ginsberg disapprovingly stated, “Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet” (Carnegie Corporation, 2019). In 2014, the voting rights movement fought to push back voting suppression. Widely spread false claims of voter fraud began in the 2016 election of President Trump. In 2018, it was found that election places closed thousands of polling places with a disproportionate effect on people of color. Still, 2018 had a record turnout for voting in mid-term elections.

As shown above, no matter what political group you affiliate with, it is extremely important to get out there and vote. Show pride in your vote! No matter who you vote for, showing off that you voted pushes others to go out there and do the same. Time Magazine states:

So voting and then wearing the “I Voted” sticker all day is an important part of the electoral process, which explains why people are taking to social media to express their disappointment over their inability to get the stickers, either because their polling place ran out or because they voted via absentee ballot and didn’t get the swag (Locker, 2018).

Don’t let your voters be disappointed! Not only do we have tons of different “I Voted” stickers, but we have “I Voted By Mail” stickers as well. That way everyone can get one and show off on social media that they are up-standing citizens who fulfilled their duties. They also voiced their opinion and made a difference.

InStockLabels.com is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. All of our products are made in the U.S.A. If you are on a time crunch, these labels will work great as all orders purchased before 1 PM MST (Monday-Friday, excluding holidays) ship out the same day. Then it only takes a few days for them to get to you (depending on how far you are). Contact us if you have any questions or would like a sample of these labels to make sure they fit your needs. We also make custom labels if you can not find the perfect sticker for what you need.

Carnegie Corporation of New York. (2019, November 18). Voting rights: A short history: Voting. Carnegie Corporation of New York. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/voting-rights-timeline/ 

Locker, M. (2018, November 6). “I voted” sticker shortage is making everyone sad. Time. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://time.com/5444840/voting-sticker-2018/