Three winners for the first San Luis Obispo County "I Voted" sticker competition.
KSBY caught up with some of the winners.
"They have a big smile to show how excited they are, I emphasized the smile," said Rudd Larson, one of the student winners.
"First, I drew the Eagle, and then the pole," said Melanie Rathbun, another student winner. "And then I thought it would be cool if the pole looked like an American flag."
Larson and Rathbun are two of the three winners of the first SLO County "I Voted" sticker design competition.
There were 20 entries in the contest, and their designs were picked by a group of city mayors from all over the county.
Larson is in fifth grade at Georgia Brown Elementary School in Paso Robles.
He says he got a special visit in class Thursday from some of the staff at the county clerk-recorder's office.
They gave all of his classmates one of the stickers he designed. Larson was the first student to submit his design.
"Surprising and exciting — mostly exciting," said Larson. "My whole class got really excited that I won."
For Rathbun, a third-grader at Old Mission School in San Luis Obispo, the sticker competition served as a fun way to kick off living on the Central Coast.
She and her family moved from North Carolina this summer.
"After the morning announcements everyone in my class, and in some other classes were pleading to see the sticker," said Rathbun. "I was showing the whole crowd, and then two kids at recess wanted to see the sticker closely because of all the hullabaloo."
She says winning the competition was amazing.
"I think the excitement you feel after you've won and now everyone is going to see how good you are at drawing," said Rathbun.
The competition was split up into two age ranges, third- through sixth-graders and seventh- through 12th-graders.
Rathbun was the first-place winner for the younger age group, and Larson was awarded honorable mention.
The older age group's winner was Joanna Rawlings, a senior at San Luis Obispo High School.
KSBY reached out to speak with her, but she was unavailable.
The two winners KSBY spoke to said of the reason they entered the contest was because they think voting is important.
"I think because it helps them feel more connected to the U.S., and it helps us find a new leader," said Larson.
"If nobody voted, then we wouldn't know, then how else would we pick the president," said Rathbun.
Rathbun, Larson, and Rawling's stickers will be available at all polling locations, and the elections offices in San Luis Obispo and Atascadero.
