Michelle Oum arrived in Lake Forest from her home in Seoul, South Korea, in August to start her freshman year at Lake Forest Academy. On March 17, thousands of people in Lake County will be wearing an “I Voted” sticker she designed.
During an art class, Oum said her teacher told the students about a contest sponsored by Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega to design an “I Voted” sticker voters are given after they cast their ballots in both the March 17 primary and the Nov. 3 general election.
Though she was not intimately familiar with the voting process in Lake County, Illinois or the United States, Oum said it was an opportunity to further her education outside the grounds of her school and learn something about where she plans to spend the next four years.
“Our art teacher said it was a great opportunity for us to make a contribution to the larger community outside of our school,” Oum said. “Elections are a really important part of society. I want to contribute, even though I’m not old enough to vote yet.”
Oum won first place in the high school division and was the overall winner of Vega’s “I Voted” sticker design contest on Dec. 2, crafting a design favored by a majority of the clerk’s office staff out of more than 100 entrants.
“It’s an honor,” Oum said when she learned thousands of people might be wearing a sticker she designed. “It’s really great my design was good enough to add something to the Lake County community.”
For her effort, Oum receives a $100 gift card for finishing at the top of the high school division, and another $125 gift card for her overall victory, along with the widespread distribution of her design.
Anna Sophia Estanga, a home-schooled eighth grader from Highland Park, won the competition for middle schoolers, earning a $50 gift card, and Anthony Perez , a third-grade student from Wauconda Grade School, took top honors among elementary school students. He receives a $25 gift card.
After years of using the same “I Voted” sticker, Vega held a contest ahead of the 2024 elections, allowing young people to design stickers and a winner was chosen. It was also used for the 2025 municipal contests. For 2026, it was time for something new.
“This is a chance to get our young people excited about our democracy and election process before they are old enough to vote,” Vega said. “For adults, it’s a way to support young artists in our communities.”
Once the entries were submitted at the end of October, Vega said the clerk’s office staff reviewed the designs and cast their own votes. There are 52 people working in the clerk’s office, and 35 voted.
Participants had to use the hashtag #Lake County Votes, the words “I Voted” and incorporate red, white and blue into their designs. Beyond those requirements, they were free to let their creativity guide them.
Before Oum began to create her design, she said she did some research to learn more about Lake County. She wanted both local and national symbolism. There is a bald eagle wearing sunglasses, a lighthouse, flowers, a football, an arm pointing upward and the words “vote,” “election” and “democracy.”
“I wanted it to be dynamic,” Oum said, “I wanted to display the symbols of the community we live in. The hand shows the different colors of diversity and how everybody is part of the election.”
Anna Sophia also said she wanted her design to show inclusion. The four hands — two red, one white and one blue — show the word “vote” in American Sign Language, along with the required language and hashtag.
“Everyone can vote,” Anna Sophia said. “I wanted to show that and that’s why the four hands are “vote” in sign language. It’s very important to vote for what you believe in.”
Anthony said in an email that he learned about the contest from his uncle. He crafted the image of a bird flying over a ballot box with a ballot sticking out of the box.
“The message I am sending is that voting is cool and I really like birds,” Anthony said. “I think it’s good to do something for the election.”
His mother Brenda said, “It was cool to teach Anthony about voting and getting involved in the community. He had a lot of fun designing on his computer.”
With a sticker chosen for the 2026 elections, Vega said that should he be reelected in November, he will likely do another such contest for the 2028 elections.
