One of the most popular symbols of Election Day is the "I Voted" sticker.

Civic-minded voters everywhere place the red, white and blue sticker on their lapel or shirt as a show of pride.

But if you live in the South Bay and voted by mail you don't have the paper proof. This election, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters opted not to put the stickers in mail-in packets.

The decision saved the county $90,750, according to registrar spokeswoman Elma Rosas. She said each sticker cost 15 cents. Multiply that by 650,000 mail-in voter requests and that's a lot of dough.

StickerGate caused a bit of a stir. On the NBC Bay Area Facebook page, a poster named Celso Silvestre Montes wrote: "I voted by mail...Do I still get a sticker? That's like the main purpose of voting."

There was still a way to get a sticker and vote by mail: By dropping off the mail-in ballots in person.

San Mateo County also did not include stickers in its mail-in ballot packets.

A Field Poll predicted that 70 percent of California's registered voters would cast ballots in Tuesday's election, with more than half voting by mail. It would be the first time the number of mail-in ballots overtook the number of precinct ballots in a California general election.

