Allowing the public to select the artwork of the Elvis Presley stamp was and unprecedented move for the United States Postal Service. The choice was between two equally superb but thematically distinct portraits: a water color of the youthful Elvis by Mark Stutzman, or a more mature Elvis painted by John Berkey. Pre addressed ballots were distributed in post offices around the country and in the April 13, 1992, edition of People Magazine. American spoke, returning nearly 1.2 million ballots to the Postal Service, and the choice was clear: More than 75 percent of voters preferred the young Elvis. The stamp was dedicated at Graceland just a few moments after midnight on January 8, 1993 – Elvis’s 58th birthday.
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The American public voted on a matter of vital national importance in 1992: young Elvis or Old Elvis?