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, knows you can't just ask the Internet to vote on something after learning 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, a measly sum when taken into account the cost of travelling on the provincial ferry routes. Contest entries included: Spirit of The WalletSucker - HMS Overdraft - Queen of I should of been a bridge - HMS Cantafford, and -Spirit of Government Ineptitude, to name just a few.

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.... Boaty McBoatface. (This was later overridden by the government, and named the ship the RRS Sir David Attenborough instead.

So, despite many years of cautionary tales, the state of Michigan this year launched a contest to design some new "I Voted" sticker designs. (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. Silly Boys.

More than 57,000 people did so—and that's why real, actually living and breathing, and we'll assume legal in person 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. 

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?'" 

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. So if you live in Michigan, and  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"? 

[Michigan Dept. of State]

[Michigan Public Radio]

[NYT]