Warner announces Raleigh County's Reese Childers as the Statewide Winner of West Virginia's first-ever "I Voted!" Sticker Contest

Charleston, W.Va. – West Virginia's first-ever "I Voted!" Sticker Contest concluded on Wednesday with the announcement that a design submitted by a Raleigh County eighth grader had been selected as the Statewide Winner.

WV Secretary of State Kris Warner kicked off the state's first-ever Sticker Contest back in December. With the support of the state's county clerks, more than 1,100 eighth grade student artists entered the contest. The contest was open to any eighth grader in any public, private, charter, or home school program.

Entries were received from 42 counties. Every county clerk participating in the contest selected a first-place winner. Those 42 first-place winners were then placed into four Regional contests. On February 17th, Secretary of State Kris Warner announced four Regional Winners as finalists for the Statewide Winner.

From February 17th until 4:30pm on February 27th, the general public was permitted to vote online for their favorite of the four designs. A total of 15,947 votes were received in the 10-day period.

March 9-13 is National Civic Learning Week. The WV Civics Coalition, of which the Secretary of State's office is a member, hosted a forum on Wednesday, March 11th, titled "Civic Learning for a Stronger West Virginia". Secretary Warner hosted a press conference at the end of the forum to announce the Statewide Winner. The forum and the press conference were held in the Chamber of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals at the State Capitol.

The 2026 Statewide Winner was announced at the press conference with all four Regional Winners attending: Region 1 - Mackenzie Blizzard from Trinity Christian School in Morgantown; Region 2 - Arabella Piccolomini from Shepherdstown Middle School in Shepherdstown; Region 3 - Ellie Crislip from Ripley Middle School in Ripley; and Region 4 - Reese Childers from Shady Spring Middle School in Shady Spring.

The county clerks represented by the Regional Winners were (Region 1) Monongalia County Clerk Carye Blaney; (Region 2) Jefferson County Clerk Jacki Shadle; (Region 3) Jackson County Clerk Christina Gossett; and (Region 4) Raleigh County Clerk Scott Van Meter.

Secretary Warner announced that Reese Childers, a student at Shady Spring Middle School in Raleigh County (her design is above), was selected by the voters to be the 2026 Statewide Winner.

"We all know the importance of getting our youth interested in elections - this contest did just that," said Secretary Warner.

"I was thrilled to see more than a thousand entries from all over the State! I can only hope our voters follow the lead of our eighth graders and participate in the upcoming election," Warner said.

West Virginia's Primary Election is scheduled for May 12th. The last day to register to vote or to update your voter registration is April 21st. Early voting begins on April 29th. For more information about voter registration, absentee voting, etc., please visit GoVoteWV.com.

For winning the contest, Reese was given a plaque featuring her artwork. In addition, Raleigh County Clerk Scott Van Meter was presented with 11,000 stickers featuring Reese's design to be handed out to Raleigh County voters who vote in-person in the Primary Election.

Reese attended the press conference with her parents, Ben and Crista Childers, and several family members.

PHOTOS OF WEDNESDAY'S PRESS CONFERENCE can be found at THIS LINK and will also be made available on the WV Secretary of State's website and on the office's official Facebook page.