Internet picks “werewolf clawing off its own shirt” as new Michigan “I Voted” sticker

You can’t just ask the Internet to vote on something and assume you’ll get a “normal” result.

The town of Fort Wayne, Indiana, learned this the hard way in 2011, when an online vote to name a new government center in town went with “Harry Baals.” Though Mr. Baals was in fact a respected former mayor of the town back in the 1930s, contemporary officials weren’t convinced that his name was chosen out of merely historical interest.

Or there was the time in 2015 when the British Columbia Ferry Service asked Internet users to name its newest ships and perhaps win a $500 prize. Contest entries included:

• Spirit of The WalletSucker
• The Floating Crapsickle
• Royal Docksitter
• The Coastal Corruption
• HMS Cantafford
• Queen of the Damned

Or again—and perhaps most famously—there was the UK government’s gloriously naive decision in 2016 to let the Internet pick a new name for a £200 million polar research vessel. And 124,109 members of the general public chose… Boaty McBoatface. (This was later overridden by the government, which named the ship the RRS Sir David Attenborough instead, but one of the boat’s remotely operated underwater vehicles was named Boaty McBoatface as a consolation prize.)

Even the not-quite-bleeding-edge-of-tech New York Times recognized in its headline on the story that this is “What You Get When You Let the Internet Decide.”

So, despite many years of cautionary tales, the state of Michigan this year launched a contest to design some new “I Voted” sticker designs. (NB: For our non-American readers, these stickers are often given out when you vote in elections so that you can shame any nonvoting friends, family, and colleagues with your civic virtue.)

The state commissioned designs from local school kids, no doubt anticipating that said designs would feature things like heartwarming drawings of the Michigan mitten. And they let the Internet weigh in on the results.

More than 57,000 people did so—and that’s why voters across the state, once they cast a ballot in this year’s presidential election, might be handed a round sticker featuring a werewolf ripping its own shirt to shreds as it throws its head back and howls like a maniac in front of an American flag. And it is glorious.

Why not?

This piece of inspired artwork came from the mind and pen of 12-year-old Jane Hynous of Grosse Pointe Farms. Though the contest selected nine winners, Hynous’ design beat every other entry by a wide margin. (See all winners here.)

The New York Times called Hynous to talk about the sticker and received this terrific quote:

“I didn’t want to do something that usually you think of when you think of Michigan,” she said. “I was like, ‘Why not make a wolf pulling his shirt off?'”

Why not, indeed? Clearly, the Internet has delivered on this one.

Michigan plans to print a million stickers, which will feature all nine winning designs, and local election clerks will need to order specific designs from the state. (They can also order the original, boring American flag “I Voted” stickers. But why would they?)

So if you live in Michigan, and if this November you want your shirt adorned with an insane werewolf celebrating the vote you just cast, now is the time to let your local clerk know.

Still, despite these great designs, I can’t help but feel that an opportunity was lost. No “Votey McVoteface”? Perhaps in 2028.