Blue Dog mania: That 'I Voted' sticker could be valuable

BATON ROUGE — Louisiana's Blue Dog "I Voted" stickers have become collector's items.

"People are clamoring for them; they're wildly popular," said Secretary of State Tom Schedler, whose office paid $20,000 for 4 million of the stickers featuring the late Acadiana artist George Rodrigue's famous Blue Dog.

A quick survey of eBay found Blue Dog "I Voted" stickers for sale ranging from $4.99 to $50 (must be in mint condition), but Louisiana voters were presented one for free when they came to the ballot box for the November presidential election.

Schedler created the Blue Dog sticker campaign to promote voter participation. He testified about the campaign during House Appropriations Committee hearings this week.

"It's the best investment we've ever made," Schedler said. "The buzz from voters and the publicity generated for Louisiana has been amazing.

"I had people calling who voted early or by overseas mail ballot who were mad they didn't get one, so I mailed them one."

One of the calls from Germany may have been from Shreveport-area lawmaker Rep. Larry Bagley's daughter.

"My son-in-law and daughter are deployed in Germany with a new baby. My daughter called and said, 'Dad, can to get a Blue Dog sticker to me?'," said Bagley, R-Stonewall. "It was a great idea."

Schedler spokesman Meg Casper said the campaign was so successful the office may consider an encore featuring another signature Louisiana image or artist during a future statewide election.

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1