This year, the “I voted” sticker readers will pick up after casting your ballot could look a little different, the Detroit Free Press reported recently.

The Michigan Secretary of State had a contest asking Michigan students and others to design the stickers handed out at polling locations across the state. The recently announced winners — from people from Alma to Grand Rapids to Lansing to West Bloomfield and beyond — include a werewolf ripping off its shirt, a lighthouse, a smirking cat, a trout and a simple “Ope, I voted.”

The public voted nearly 58,000 times on about 480 submissions, the Freep reported.

We love the whole premise of the contest. Voting is a civic duty, a great responsibility and a rewarding privilege, and everyone ought to get involved in it. The contest offered a chance for hundreds of Michiganders to think about voting and the democratic process, and that can only be a good thing.

We especially like the idea of introducing students to the concept of voting. The more they think about it in their youth, the more likely they are to cast ballots as they get older.

We can imagine youngsters across the state eagerly visiting polling places with their parents to see if their sticker gets handed out. They’ll see their neighbors participating in the process, choosing their leaders and deciding their tax rates, and maybe that image will embed itself in their young psyches and they’ll want to be part of that when they’re old enough.

At least, we hope that’s how it works.

Because, as we’ve said many times in this space, democracy works best when more people get involved, because then the outcome of the vote can reflect a truer majority.

We should all always wear our “I voted’ stickers with pride, showing every passerby that we’re engaged citizens who care about the future of our community, our state and our nation.

That should be especially true this year, because we’ll also show that we support efforts to make even more engaged citizens.