University Police Bust Voting Sticker Harvesting Operation

Last week, the Texas A&M University Police Department (UPD) busted a voting sticker harvesting operation that has reportedly been active since early voting began. Officers recovered over 500 “I voted” stickers and record-breaking amounts of performance activism at the scene.

Despite the disappearance of stickers, there has been no shortage of students calling for their peers to vote on social media. However, the prevalence of stickers in GroupMes and on social media has caused a severe uptick in the value of said virtue signals. The Mugdown spoke with several students involved in the incident.

“I really wanted to take the thirty minutes out of my day to vote at the MSC, but there just isn’t enough time in between my online lectures and posting my opinions on my Instagram stories,” said Stephany Adamson, a freshman political science major. While Adamson claimed she wanted to vote, other sources report her telling people that her vote “doesn’t matter anyway.”

According to information obtained from UPD, busy students represented an untapped niche in the performative activism market. Many students in this subcategory need a way to appear politically involved but don’t want to take the time to wait in line or educate themselves about the candidates. “Some people just don’t have that kind of time,” said one of the harvesters, who wished to remain anonymous. “But let’s face it, we can’t afford to look like we don’t care these days; every voting sticker counts.”

As “I voted” stickers continue to permeate social media, it remains unknown just how many were bought off of these entrepreneurial harvesters.

 

— Hannibal Lechner and 4.0 & Tow