SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – The Palmetto Project non-profit organization has always been the face behind the “I voted” stickers given to voters at precincts.
“The ‘I voted’ stickers are somewhat iconic and I’m glad that they are, we’ve been doing this for 30 years,” said Steve Skardon, president and CEO of the Palmetto Project.
But a change in state law now means county elections offices can no longer accept gifts or donations from outside organizations, including these free stickers.
In turn, the State Election Commission is paying the cost. They have been printing and providing their own stickers to county offices.
In the fall of 2023, the state agency paid over $23,000 for stickers, according to spokesman John Michael Catalono.
The latest shipment was over $16,000. Catalono said it’s cheaper because instead of shipping the stickers to the county offices, now workers with the State Election Commission will be taking them to the offices.
“Some of the counties reached out to us in the last two weeks saying ‘hey, we are nervous about our stickers we’re running a little low,’ and counties can still go to any sticker distributor and buy their own if they want to but anyways some counties were nervous they weren’t going to have enough stickers to last them through the presidential primary so we went ahead and got another shipment going out to them,” said Catalono.