# Get your ugly campaign sign off the side of the road! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 9, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-ugly-campaign-sign-off-the-side-of-the-road/127664 "2002-09-09T15:29:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-ugly-campaign-sign-off-the-side-of-the-road/127664/21 "2002-09-10T03:22:40Z")
I ran two campaigns with no more information on my sign than you mentioned. Of course, they did have the website address, but nothing beyond that, my name, the riding, the party, and (on my big ones) my picture. Why? Because there’s no ROOM for anything else. To be legible the letters have to be a number of inches tall. If I put my platform on it, you would have to stop your car and get out to read the little tiny letters. Besides, I pamphletted extensively to get the word out. Where I am, the main point of signing is to let people know that a) there’s an election and b) there’s a New Democrat in it. At this, my campaign signs accomplished the task they were required for. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-ugly-campaign-sign-off-the-side-of-the-road/127664/22 "2002-09-10T04:48:24Z")
I understand that it’s effective, matt, and I applaud your efforts to seek public office. If there’s one thing both of our countries need, it’s more open-minded people like yourself in office. I also appreciate the fact that you referenced a web site on your signs. None of the signs here have had URLs on them. Not a damn one. I’ve been checking. I also understand that those low on campaign funds can’t afford a billboard and the signs are the only way they can get their names out. I just wish it could be done in less of a haphazard sort of way. Those signs are just plain ugly. Drive down virtually any road in my city and they are all you see. They are a blight. Every five feet, soothing green grass gives way to high-contrast color schemes and phony, derivative slogans. I would be more than happy if cities simply restricted all the signs to a few of the most popular intersections in town. They usually look ugly anyway. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-ugly-campaign-sign-off-the-side-of-the-road/127664/23 "2002-09-10T12:14:45Z")
Name recognition just isn’t enough, IMO. I like what matt’s done - if you have a Web site (and any decent candidate should have one, no matter what they’re running for), then you can put that on your sign so that people know where to go to get more info on you and your platform. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-ugly-campaign-sign-off-the-side-of-the-road/127664/24 "2002-09-10T12:33:58Z")
**neutron star** (and others, too), in my experience one of the quickest and best ways to gather substantive information about candidates is to find your local or state chapter of the [League of Women Voters](http://www.lwv.org) and get their voter guide. It is nonpartisan and gives you an accurate reflection of platforms, voting records, experience, etc. I’ve been using it almost since I first started voting. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-ugly-campaign-sign-off-the-side-of-the-road/127664/25 "2002-09-10T19:20:47Z")
Thanks for the link, Paul, but when I go to the site and type in my zip code, it just hangs. I can’t get any info. Furthur perusal of the LWV’s web page showed that the Lafayette chapter does not have a web site. Hopefully, the zip code thing is just temporarily down and I’ll be able to get info on the local candidates despite the fact that the local LWV chapter isn’t online. I’ll check back with the site later. Failing that, I suppose I could request information in print from the local chapter. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-ugly-campaign-sign-off-the-side-of-the-road/127664/26 "2002-09-10T21:56:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pldennison \* > \*\*What ticks me off about them is that they simply hand the damned things to campaign volunteers, telling them to go out and out them up. Choosing the path of least resistance, these volunteers simply walk down the side of the road or up the median strip, placing 20 signs in a row with about 4 feet between each one. What a freaking eyesore. > > Then, of course, there is absolutely no provision made by the candidate’s campaigners for taking them down, so there they sit for months on end after the election has taken place, until the city gets bothered enough to remove them. \*\* Mr. Rilch calls that a “political graveyard”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-your-ugly-campaign-sign-off-the-side-of-the-road/127664.md?page=1)