Love 'Em or Hate 'Em, Campaign Signs Are Here to Stay

Bonnie Codey has never put campaign signs on her front lawn before.

But this year, due to a personal relationships with a candidate, and a belief that she is right for Summit, she is proudly sporting a Laura Graff Coburn campaign sign.

"I've never put a sign up on my lawn before," Codey said.  "My husband is a Republican, and I'm a Democrat. We’ve never really felt strong enough to make that decision."

But Codey said she has know Coburn for 10 years and says the candidate stands for the same things she does.

Campaign signs are a familiar and sometimes controversial part of local and national elections. But even in this digital age, when every candidate has a Facebook page, traditional campaign tools and techniques still thrive.

Beth Dorer says it was an obvious to choice for her to put a republican campaign signs on her lawn, supporting Andy Lark, Nuris Portuondo and Rich Madden.

While she says she has known Laura Graff Coburn for many years she is avidly supporting Andy Lark and Nuris Portuondo.

"I think (Andy's) done an excellent job getting the ball rolling. It would be a very severe loss to our town if someone with Andy’s experience was replaced with someone like Steve, who’s a great coach and motivator but he doesn’t have the political finesse to work through situation that I think Andy does.”

But Andy Smith, vice chairman of the Summit Republicans, said lawn signs are something his party would be willing to eliminate from the campaign to lower costs and for environmental reasons if Democrats would agree to do so as well.

"Campaigns are getting out of hand these days and there are better ways to spend money then on lawn signs," he said.

But Phyllis Sank, campaign manager for Steve Murphy and Laura Graff Coburn, both Democrats, said she doubts the Democrats would agree to eliminate signs from campaigns anytime soon.

In recent phone calls to voters, Sank said every person she spoke to on the phone had seen a campaign sign.

"And lawn signs are the best, the least expensive way to let folks become familiar with names," she said.

Name recognition can often lead to other things, such as watching a debate or attending a campaign event.

"They do have value," Smith said. "It’s sort of getting the word out about the campaign and demonstrating support for a candidate."

Sank said some other campaign swag, such as buttons and bumper stickers, are dying out but the most important campaigning techniques are still personal interactions with voters.

But there are also theories and strategies behind designing the look of a campaign sign.

This year the three Republican candidates for council have one team sign in red, white and blue.

"I think the sort of idea behind it was they wanted to show a united front, be a team, and, you know, save money and save the environment," Smith said.

With three candidates running, one sign is better than having three separate signs on people's lawns, he said.

However, Sank said the Democrats made a decision long ago not to do team signs.

"In this town people don't vote straight party line," she said. "It's very sophisticated in terms of the electorate."

While red, white and blue design is sometimes thought of as a safer choice, it is also easily recognizable as a campaign sign, Smith said, instead of being mistaken for a sign for a contractor or landscaping company.

Sank said the Democrats went with blue, green and white to portray they are "fresh, young, and new." The green is attended to evoke a reminder of sustainability and the white names pop at night when car lights shine on them.

But even those who don't like signs recognize their value in a local election.

"I really don't like the concept of lawn signs," said Amy DiSibio, who is sporting a Steve Murphy sign on her lawn. "However since we have them I think it becomes a a game of who has more lawn signs. It’s an advertising technique."