Rockford — Gabby Warner was thinking about the future when she entered the Secretary of State’s “I Voted” sticker design contest — not just the future she represents, but the one her younger siblings will inherit as well.
The Rockford Freshman Center student submitted her entry in the contest last May as she was finishing her eighth-grade year at East Rockford Middle School. Her simple but effective design — stating, “I voted, yay” drawn in red on a white background with a backward-turned vowel — nabbed second place in the contest’s elementary and middle school category.
The purpose of the design, which Gabby thought up with her friend Jerzi Clark, is to make sure voters are keeping the kids in mind when they hit the polls.
“When people vote, they’re voting for themselves but they’re also representing younger people who can’t vote,” Gabby said. “My little sisters can’t really read or write, so … we just wanted to do something simple, basically for them.
“We wanted to do a design that looked like they drew it.”
The contest included 480 entries and garnered more than 57,700 public votes, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
Gabby said she completed the design in no time using digital drawing pads. It was submitted before the free period ended, and she eventually forgot she’d even entered the contest.
She was ecstatic when she learned her design was one of the top entries.
“We didn’t really assume it was going to win, because it looked like it was drawn by a little kid,” Gabby said. “I guess it inspired a lot of people.”
East Rockford Middle School Principal Adam Burkholder said Gabby has a heck of a creative streak, and it makes sense that she found success in the contest.
“It’s no surprise to anyone who knew her during her three years here that her design was chosen for this prestigious honor,” Burkholder said.
Gabby’s stickers will be available at her area precincts, and elsewhere throughout the state. She looks forward to accompanying her mom to the polls and picking a few out on Election Day.
Read more from Rockford:
• Rockford podcast aims to tell stories of students, staff
• Collaboration is at the heart of new elementary school
