April 22, 2019

Hon. Michael J. Ryan

Executive Director
New York City Board of Elections
32 Broadway
7th Floor
New York, NY 10004

Dear Director Ryan,

We have heard from Board of Elections staff that the BoE intends to produce a new “I Voted” sticker
and no longer wishes to distribute the subway map-themed sticker that has been in use since 2017. We
understand that the primary rationale for doing so is to add the city BoE’s new logo and promote its
branding. We ask you to reconsider that decision and instead continue our partnership in producing
and distributing the highly popular stickers.

As you know, the Campaign Finance Board has worked closely with the BoE since 2013 to provide
New Yorkers with “I Voted” stickers. In 2017, the sticker was re-launched through a design contest.
Members of the public submitted more than 700 designs and cast nearly 10,000 votes to select the
current sticker. Throughout this long-standing and fruitful partnership, the BoE’s seal has always been
included on the sticker, along with the statement that it is “distributed in partnership with the NYC
Board of Elections.”

We would like to continue that partnership. Consistent with our past practice, we suggest working
with you to develop a redesigned version of the current sticker that incorporates the BoE’s new logo.

We believe this will be the best outcome for everyone involved. The BoE will not incur any costs and
have its logo on a familiar and popular product. The CFB would continue to absorb the costs to print
and deliver the stickers to the BoE’s distribution vendor. To date, the CFB has spent more than
$76,000 in printing and delivery costs on the “I Voted” sticker that went into service in 2017. We
have budgeted $125,000 for next fiscal year to cover the demand for the Presidential primary and the
combined federal and state primary.

The CFB and BOE will maintain their connection to the voting public formed via these stickers. They
are important badges that voters use to show their pride in voting and have been an important tool to
engage with voters before, during, and after Election Day.

Finally, the current sticker is quite popular, both with voters publishing selfies and with the media:

 “There’s one thing that will always unite us [as New Yorkers], for good or ill: the subway. So it makes
sense that …designer Marie Dagata reached for subway iconography.” —Slate
 “The sticker communicates an unadulterated patriotism and old-school levity not usually seen in this
vitriolic political era.” —The Daily Beast

We urge the BoE to continue using the current sticker with the preferred logo worked in to the design.
We think that the current sticker design should be a part of the landscape through the 2020 election
cycle as we had planned in 2017.

We hope that the BoE will agree to our suggestion. If not, we ask that BoE staff communicate plans to
us about when and how new stickers will be released to the public.

Thank you for your consideration of our suggestion.

Sincerely,

Amy Loprest

Cc: Naomi Zauderer, Chair, NYC Voter Assistance Advisory Committee