RALEIGH, N.C. — Today is the last day of early voting in North Carolina. 

According to the N.C. State Board of Elections, more than half of registered voters in the state have cast ballots, with nearly 3,800,000 of those coming from early in-person voting.

What You Need To Know

  • The 'I Voted Early' sticker contest was piloted in 2023

  • Olivia McCall, the Wake County Board of Elections director, said it's a great form of civic engagement

  • The stickers are given out to voters at early voting sites through Saturday

The race for the White House between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris has the attention of the nation, including Director of the Wake County Board of Elections Olivia McCall.

“With elections, it's very structured. There's chains of custody. There's security measures, there's the training that goes into getting all the people that are working the election trained, and there's so much seriousness with elections,” McCall said. “And it has to be.”

At a time when people are deeply divided along party lines, there is at least a welcome surprise for in-person early voters in Wake County: an "I voted early" sticker created by a sixth-grader.

“This is kind of a lighter note of, hey, what can we do to make this kind of fun and get the youth engaged in this process?” McCall said.

 

The contest opened to middle schoolers through high schoolers last year.

Shannon Fisher’s design won the hearts of voters out of more than 100 submissions across the county.

Last year, Fisher talked about the fun of crafting something that adults would like, too.

“I think I was more interested in just everyone, just making voting more exciting because I feel like at least for kids, that it's not super exciting when you have to go vote,” she said.

Fisher, then a sixth-grader at Neuse River Middle School, used her little brother as inspiration and depicted a child riding a unicorn.

“She just loves her little brother,” McCall said, “and she wanted to incorporate him into the drawing as well. And she hopes that he one day will be as excited about the voting process and just elections and get involved.” 

“It's just a really heartwarming story behind it. And we didn't even know that until we actually met her, which was kind of a nice surprise for our team,” McCall said.

The pilot sticker contest launched in 2023 and drew nearly 7,000 voters.

Some early voters put the sticker on right after leaving the polls.

“I think it's great,” Traigh Groover said.  

Groover voted with his wife, Jane Groover, in Cary.

“It's showing that everyone's involved, and it impacts everybody,” Groover said.

Tony Rogers, 67, beamed with pride after he left the polls in Raleigh.

“This is my voting ticket,” Rogers playfully said as he held the sticker in his hand. Rogers said it was a treat to receive proof of his participation in democracy for his first-ever vote in a presidential election.

“Vote early — this is what you get,” Rogers said.

McCall says that her job comes with a lot of responsibility but that it’s worth every bit of it.

“It's so rewarding. You're helping out your community, you're a part of history, it's just a great feeling,” McCall said. “It's a great profession to be in.”