SC election commission printed Spanish ‘I voted’ sticker. Why was council member offended?
Every election year, the perk of going to polls is receiving a sticker to show off you performed a civic duty by casting a ballot.
And the South Carolina Election Commission wanted voters to have options for this year’s presidential election.
The South Carolina Election Commission printed four stickers to hand to voters at polling places this year. Two traditional “I Voted” stickers, one in Spanish that says “Yo Voté” and one that says “Future Voter.”
The appearance of the Spanish version irked at least one county council member in Horry County who took to social media.
On Friday afternoon, Horry County Council member Al Allen posted on Facebook seeking to “apologize” for the Spanish stickers being printed.
“I can understand a mistake being made in another state, but not here!” Allen posted. “I would like to know ‘Who’ authorized and paid for this? It wasn’t Horry County and I apologize to my constituents who may have been offended by this, because I was, when it was brought to my attention! America First Always.”
The sticker that Allen posted about was handed out at the Aynor early voting location in Horry County.
Allen has been a member of the Horry County Council since 2007. He did not immediately return a phone call Monday seeking additional comment.
All four stickers were sent to all 46 counties. The election commission spent $43,000 to print 785,000 copies of each sticker.
“It was optional for county to offer them,” said John Michael Catalano, the election commission spokesperson.
“If someone doesn’t like that sticker they can pick another one,” Catalano said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics made up 6.9% of Horry County’s population in 2020, which was on par with the Hispanic population statewide.
Animus toward Hispanics, or more specifically undocumented immigrants, has been a hot-button issue for Republican voters. The top issue for voters in South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Primary was immigration as the GOP has been critical of the Biden Administration’s handling of the Southern border.
South Carolina also has a constitutional amendment ballot question in this year’s election. Voters are being asked whether the state constitution should be changed to say “only” U.S. citizens can vote in an election from “every” U.S. citizen.
