Are Campaign Signs Still Relevant in the Digital Age?

In the past two weeks campaign signs have been popping up around Woodinville like mushrooms on the forest floor. The familiar cardboard sign on a stick is still the best way for candidates to get their names on front of voters, even in the new digital age.

The yard sign will never be usurped by the Internet, said Bruce Newman, a professor at DePaul University in Chicago and founding editor of the Journal of Political Marketing in an interview with the Connecticut Post.

That doesn't mean that candidates love them.

“The signs are labor intensive and get to be a mess as it gets closer to Election Day,” said Paulette Bauman, Woodinville city council member. “If there was another way to get my name out in front of voters I would do it, but it’s still the best way and candidates depend on name recognition.”

The signs also don’t come cheap; each cardboard sign is about $2, $3 for plastic, plus the cost of the wooden stake or metal post.  Bauman said it was the bulk of her campaign spending.

King County council member Kathy Lambert, who represents Woodinville, said she has a love-hate relationship with yard signs. Lambert agreed they are still the best tool for building name recognition, but she added they are also an eyesore.

“I look forward to the day when we all turn to the internet to learn about candidates — voter pamphlets and candidate websites to get our information to be fully informed,” Lambert wrote in an email to Woodinville Patch. “Even better by coming to town halls, civic events, watching the government channel, etc. so citizens really know the candidates and what they stand for!” 

There are rules about where campaign signs can be planted and when they have to come down. King County and Washington State Department of Transportation have similar laws; regulations prohibit any signs, posters, bills or other advertising devices, including political campaign signs, on the county's right-of-way, public easements, public property or utility poles — with a few exceptions.

Laws in both the county and the state dictate signs must be removed 10 days after Election Day; in the City of Woodinville, signs must come down seven days post election.

To complain about illegally posted campaign signs on public property, easements or right-of-way in unincorporated King County, call King County Roads Maintenance at 206-296-8100. The toll-free number is 1-800-527-6237. This number is staffed 24 hours a day.