Sticky notes with political messages in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for presidency have begun popping up in women-designated/inclusive spaces across the country, a trend of which the origin is not known, but that reportedly started as a way for women to share their views in a safe environment as the election nears.
These mostly handmade political sticky notes are being placed in various environments where women would see them, such as in bathrooms, gyms, on tampon boxes, and on mirrors, NBC News reported.
The notes typically have a trademark phrase: “Woman to Woman,” followed by an individualized message that usually is meant to inspire other women to vote in their interest rather than abide by anyone else’s.
One note reads: “Woman to woman: your VOTE is private. VOTE for the right to make decisions about your own body without the government telling you what to do!”
Another reads: “Woman to Woman, No one sees your vote at the polls. America needs YOU! Vote Harris/Walz. Vote for democracy!”
A Harris campaign spokesperson denied that the campaign is involved in the initiative, NBC reported.
While no one knows who started the trend, women from across the country told NBC News they were inspired to borrow one another’s ideas, sharing advice and pictures of their messages for inspiration through social media, particularly pro-Harris Facebook groups. For women and those non-conforming in Republican-dominated states, it also became a way for them to share their views without backlash from friends, or even their spouses whose vote they didn’t feel safe to oppose.
“I live in a very red state, and I know women who do what their husbands tell them to do, and it’s very sad,” Liz Nace, 81, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, said. “And so if we can give a voice to somebody who might have some fears, it would just be a good thing for them to know that nobody’s going to know how you vote when you vote.”
Nace said she always keeps sticky notes in her purse, spreading the pro-Harris messages in stores and restaurants to “atone for the fact that I voted for Trump in 2016.” Now, she is apart of a group called the “La Las,” as a reference to the last syllable in Harris’ first name, which meets every Wednesday night to watch webinars for people who support Harris.
For the sticky note initiative, much of the organizing takes place online in Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members. One of which is “Cat Ladies for Kamala Harris,” a group with more than 110,000 members, named in response to a comment by Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, targeting “childless cat ladies.”
Sticky notes became a way for women to participate in politics “without feeling or being afraid of having any repercussions,” said Kelly Johnson, 47, of Kansas City.
