A cream circle with an illustration of a opossum holding a piece of paper that says \"BALLOT\" in black letter with its tail. In its right hand is a red pencil. The bottom of the sticker says \"RVA * VOTES\"
Richmond’s 2024 “I Voted” sticker is popping up all over the place now that early voting for the 2024 presidential election is underway. The popular opossum design was created by VCU alum Asia Rorick.

Oct. 14, 2024

VCUarts alum’s winning design for ‘I Voted’ contest is a featured creature online

Asia Rorick’s civic-minded opossum is attracting a following during election season.

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By Leila Ugincius

Having won Richmond’s first-ever “I Voted” sticker contest in April, recent Virginia Commonwealth University graduate Asia Rorick is now seeing her “voting opossum” design in its natural habitat: With early voting under way the 2024 presidential election, the opossum is popping up all over social media.

“I did see people posting about it on Reddit, which was really surreal,” Rorick said. “I also saw Sen. Tim Kaine wearing my sticker on @rva_votes and got a mailer guide from the [city] Office of Elections with my design on the envelope.”

The 29-year-old School of the Arts alum is grateful that her design resonated with locals the way it did.

An illustration of a woman from the shoulders up. She is wearing a green sweater with a light blue collared shirt underneath, and a red heart earring.
A self portrait by Asia Rorick, who graduated with a degree in communication arts from VCU this past May. (Courtesy image)

“Richmond is such a creative city, and I think voters appreciated a unique artistic design and — hopefully — a cute opossum,” Rorick said. “I know the r/rva online community showed a lot of love during the voting period for the sticker designs as well, which was so fun to see.”

Rorick thinks the opossum was an apt mascot for her design.

“Opossums are specific to North America — as opposed to Australian possums — and their full ‘title’ is actually the Virginia Opossum,” she said. “I think their silly, fun, unconventional nature just connects with Richmonders. Plus, they live a dual life of city and nature dwelling, and I think Richmond encompasses that same nature-loving, city-living vibe.”

Rorick added that “there are tons of local Richmond artists like @cryptid.party, @anxiouslythrown and @broo_gus that base a lot of their work around opossums and other woodland critters. I really love it so much.”

She plans to continue to incorporate opossums into her future work. Next up for Rorick is the six-month Studio Access Residency at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, starting in November.