On Wednesday afternoon February 25, 2026,at Shortline School, Wetzel County Clerk, Jessica Yoho accompanied Amanda Metz, an employee of the clerk’s office, presented three Shortline eighth graders a certificate from the Secretary of State’s Office. The certificate of recognition was for participation in the statewide “I Voted” sticker contest open to all eighth graders. Yoho presented Crislyn Cook with the first-place certificate, Boone Wyatt received second place runner up, and Brandon Anderson finished as the third place winner.

Yoho said the Secretary of State’s Office hosted the contest statewide with all eighth graders invited to participate by submitting their artwork representing the beauty of West Virginia.

“I want to give a big shout out to Ms. Stutzman and all of her students who participated! Shortline School submitted 20 entries, and we loved every one of them,” said Yoho. “We have all the artwork here to showcase -and as you can see, it was a difficult decision to pick just one”.

The County Clerk’s Office judged the submissions and then chose three to honor locally, with the first-place winner advancing to be judged at the regional level. There are four regions across the state and each of the four sending their 1st place winners to the statewide level competition, where the state winner is chosen from votes cast on the Secretary of State’s Facebook page. One vote is allowed per email address. The winner will be announced on March 11th during National Civics Learning Week.

The Secretary of State’s Office will purchase stickers for the home County of the state winner and every voter that casts a ballot in that County will receive one of the winner’s stickers.

“We thought, how cool would it be to extend this to a county level using our local 1st place winner for a fun way to engage students in civic involvement, and display the awesome art talent we have right here in Wetzel County,” added Yoho!

“We have already purchased the stickers to be used in the May 12th Primary Election.”

Every Wetzel County Voter will receive one to wear proudly once they cast their ballot – not only to show that they performed their civic duty, but also to showcase this local artist!

“Thanks again to everyone that participated – we hope that you stay interested in civic involvement and hope to see you one day casting your own ballot and serving as Poll Workers in our Elections”!