I did my civic duty today and voted. Honestly, I don’t like a lot of the candidates that were available to me, but at the same time there are a bunch that I didn’t even know who they were much less know their platforms. A lot of voting simply based on party and weak hopes and dreams that change might occur.
But anyway, the point of this post isn’t the fact that I had voted, it’s based on the fact that mercifully, I was spared being given the new I Voted sticker that rolled out in Georgia this year, and was instead given one of the “old” stickers. I actually had this post in mind, should I have gotten the new sticker, but even after getting the old one, I didn’t want this train of thought to go to waste, and here we are.
My knee-jerk reaction upon seeing it was that of feeling kind of skeeved out. For the last decade or so, for fairly obvious reasons, there’s something about a lot of American symbolism that has turned kind of passively hostile, and almost threatening, like it’s been weaponized. And I know that the flag in the sticker is a Georgia state flag, and that it’s the State Capitol and not Washington D.C., but there just something about the sticker as a whole that seems more agenda-led versus being a badge of honor of doing our civic duty.
A little bit of cursory research reveals that the new sticker’s design was done by a pretty renown painter; I don’t like to actually write out their name, because I don’t want to give satisfaction of acknowledgement to people I don’t appreciate, but the thing is, most people have probably seen their artwork before. They are kind of a go-to artist for political artwork, and to their credit, they have done a lot of good paintings throughout history, and there is definite talent in their hands.
I learned that the artist actually lives in Georgia, which explains the connection to why they could be tasked to do such a project like Georgia’s voting sticker, but it doesn’t change the fact that I still get this sense of skeeviness when I look at it, and I’m relieved I didn’t get one, because not only would I not wear it, I was premediating what disparaging places I could put it instead of wearing it, like inside the urinal at a QT or something, even if it would be a dick move to force someone to potentially have to clean it up later, but it’s a moot point because I thankfully didn’t get one.
But back to the artist, as stated, they are basically a go-to artist for the Republican party, and that’s where I realized where I’d seen some of their artwork before. It didn’t take much longer to realize where this person stood on the political spectrum, but at the same time it wasn’t the least bit surprising, and in a way, kind of interesting to how it was so obvious from nothing but a 1.5” circumference sticker.
We’ve gotten to the point of society, where such lines are drawn so hard, the division is so staunch, and people are so clouded by solely political affiliation, that imagery, symbolism and visual associations have become very prevalent and are easy indicators for sides just from quick glances.
I know Georgia is technically considered a battleground state, but living here and seeing what I’ve seen over 23 years of living here, any shades of blue never seem present until election time, and regardless of result, always seems to shy away and always seem to be in the disadvantageous position in any sort of competitive arena. I hope I’m wrong about it upon the passing of actual Election Day, but at the same time I wouldn’t be surprised to be left feeling disappointed by the night’s results.
Although I was fortunate this go-around, I think it’s inevitable in future voting days that this sticker will become the only option for the foreseeable future, or at least until the supply runs out, and hopefully they go back to something a little more basic and a little more neutral afterward; although I wouldn’t bet on it.
