I'm on the local board of that same organization Marda & as VP of Voter Services, I can't have political bumper stickers on my car or yard signs in my yard either. Most of the time I'm not tempted but sometimes......

I guess when someone puts up a political yard sign they're trying to say who they're voting for & whose policies they support. However, I have to wonder why when some candidates are running unopposed why anyone bothers with the signs.

One year a neighbor lined the road side of his lawn with signs... at least 50 of them. I asked why, and he said he wanted everyone to know that was the best guy to vote for.

Maybe, maybe not.

Personally, I'm inclined to vote *against* any candidate that has more than one sign per lane per intersection on the theory that any guy/gal who okays having dozens of signs placed in one spot is someone who doesn't understand the meaning of eyesores, as well as being someone who ignores the frequent newspaper commentaries decrying this practice.

No signs and no bumper-stickers for me, but I saw one on a sticker-covered vehicle in the Post Office Parking lot:
"Eliminate Repeat Offenders, don't re-elect them"
it gave me a chuckle.

We don't post signs in our yard; don't even put bumper stickers of any kind on our car.

In the last few weeks there have been several articles in the local paper about political signs being stolen from people's yards. That activity has caused quite a stir, b/c -- bottom line--it involves trepassing on someone's private property. Of course, no one has been caught doing it and probably won't, but it's just one more thing to add to the ugliness of this election.

Our property is prime 'sign territory', because the front of it is a bank at the bottom of a gentle hill, and is six feet higher than road level, and situated on a dangerous hair pin curve. IOW, you cannot HELP but have that sign strike you up front and personal as you try to stay on the road at that point. That given, we have only had a sign posted on it once or twice, and that was for an issue on the ballot, and not a candidate. It was not my idea, nor desire, but I have to let my dh have an opinion, lol, and he did it for a friend. That's how signs usually end up in yards, somebody cashes in on a friendship. My last husband (notice I don't use the initials DH) was a political junkie, because he was part of that local good-old-boy game and he was one of those people who went out and put signs in yards. His job depended on who got elected where.

I am not a 'straight ticket' person. I'm also noted locally for having opinion on grass roots issues, and it's a part of the beast of owning your own business and properties. So, nobody really assumes I'd be receptive to sticking political signs on my property. If they ask, if I support it, I might. Multiple signs on a property is self-defeating. One cannot read them all on the way past, and they're usually all candidates from one party and platform. They need to simply run a flag up a pole with a donkey or elephant on it, and be done with it. LOL.

No political signs on our property. We have had very strong candidate preferences in several elections, we simply believe political signs are in very poor taste in residential neighborhoods. I suppose they might have a place on properties adjacent to busy roads, or in more rural areas, or for smaller elections that don't get a lot of media coverage, or for "issue" votes, but even then I'm not sure.

Part of my refusal to put a sign up in my yard is my belief that it doesn't change people's minds nor does it help the candidates... it's just a divisive tool to create friction among neighbors... people are not their best selves when they're in a dualistic "us against them" framework. It's acceptable for sports fans, but repulsive in politics and has no place in a community.

Of course the political signs have sprung up across the street... for a candidate I strongly oppose... in the yard of a family I know to be my friends. Soon, other neighbors who support the candidate I like will follow suit with signs in their own, and I'll have to run what I call the "FU Gauntlet" when I come home each night. Seriously, I become emotionally exhausted as I drive a corridor of competing signs in my community, and it takes me a while to shake the bad feelings.

My next door neighbor and I share political feelings, and we even briefly talked about putting up a response sign, but it all comes down to the Ethic of Reciprocity... we don't want to make anyone feel the way we feel when we look at the sign of a politician we dread in the yard of a person we like. Community comes before political conceit. We need to be the example we wish others would follow...

I've told the story in the past of the (local) politician who called my mom and asked to put a sign in their (prime) yard. My mom politely declined and said "T doesn't like political signs in the yard." The politician tried to "outrank" my mom and said "Well I know T."

Incredulous, she replied, "Well I do too, and the answer is no."

You should have seen the smoke coming out of her ears when she came home and found the sign in their lawn. Once she established that my dad had not, in fact, "un-no-ed" her "no" she got downright vindictive. My siblings and I (after having enjoyed a couple adult beverages together, and giggling at how riled up my mom had gotten) went out and spray painted a big "circle with a line through it" over the guy's name so it became an "anti-candidate" sign. My mom then called pretty much everyone in her social circle, told the story, and said "Whatever you do, DO NOT vote for this guy. He thinks he's too good to listen to his would-be constituants."

I confess I do have one bumper sticker. But I can't imagine anyone would really be hurt by the notion that I apparently believe that "My greyhound makes your Honor Student look slow and awkward."

LOL. I had one bumper sticker in my life, and it was on my little Ghia. Don't honk. I'm peddling as fast as I can.

No signs here, I belong to a grassroots organization and they are prohibited. However even before joining I never put signs up, hate to see them all over the place.

No yardsigns ever here...always wonder if they ever change a single vote? Falls into same category to me as bumper stickers and printed tee-shirts ..just visual static.

A few years back a college prof in my old hometown got arrested for stealing yardsigns...can't remember if he taught political science...LOL josh

When I was a kid I used to take real estate "For Sale" signs from one yard and stick them in another. Other than that I don't have much to do with yard signs.

Oh, how I'd love to be able to subtract a vote for every politician for each sign for each day it remains up after the election. I get so sick of seeing them still up in January!

Weebus, you've got me thinking dangerous thoughts! Oh, how I'd love to go outside late tonight and switch all the Obama and McCain signs on my block! Not destroy anything, not necessarily "steal" anything, just rearrange things a little. If for no other reason than to give all my neighbors gauche enough to display them a common enemy... they'd have to talk to one another to get their stupid signs back... maybe they could "bond" in the process...

Nah. I'd never do it. The newsletter the police department sent out this month reminded us that "It is illegal to damage or take campaign signs. Persons found committing these acts may be cited for damage to property or theft, with citation amounts of $77.50 and $109.00 respectively." If I got caught, I'd never live it down... But that doesn't mean I won't fantasize about it and giggle a little. Or that I'd call the police on any teenager I saw switching (not destroying) signs...

I'm glad we get to vote in this country, but I'm really looking forward to November 5...

There is a family down the road from us who are very Republican. Their daughter is in the Peace Corps and recently came home and is living there temporarily. Yesterday there were Obama signs all over their yard,but today they are gone. I think daughter and daddy are having a few words.What a great family they are. LOL

About signs influencing votes... I know a number of other people like me, who can see both good and bad in all the candidates, regardless of party affiliation. I find it interesting that many of us seem to have the same reaction to an over-abundance of signs. So, those guys/gals who blanket intersections, curves, roadsides and yards with their names and photos definitely influence us to vote... against them.

I'm not crazy about all the signs but I'm not going to vote against a candidate just because Joe Blow down the road went to the headquarters and picked up a bunch of signs and stuck them in his yard. I feel the same way about the number of TV ads and phone calls. They just don't influence me one way or the other.I see them as one big pain in the patootie and part of the political landscape during election time and how awful it would be if candidates weren't allowed that freedom of expression.

I have only seen a couple of bumper stickers for McCain and quite a few for Obama but no yard signs for either. Local elections are another story. The sign litter is overwhelming.

There is a woman running for city council that put out signs later than the others but made up for that by putting up 4 times as many, We back up to a main artery road and recently redid the bank with new plantings. She stuck two signs there without asking and we had no idea who she was. So we checked and found we do not care for her ideas and the sign went into the nearest dumpster.

We do not put up signs generally and the only political bumper sticker I have is on my truck. It says "Frodo failed Bush got the ring."

Ann ~ I don't vote against because of a neighbor's excess. I do use excessive signage to determine whom to vote against when 2 or more candidates seem to me to be of even qualifications and are evenly matched in viewpoints which agree with mine. Signage is a tie-breaker.

That really tripped my triggers when you mentioned the signs went up without your permission. Where on earth do people get off? We have given a friend with a business permission to keep a sign on our property. It was like it opened a floodgate, however. This summer it was joined by two real estate signs (one homemade and one from an agency), and a fishing worm sign. When I removed the one real estate sign, then the other sign we had given permission to be there, was vandalised and stolen. I still suspect vindictiveness and retaliation by another one of the sign owners who didn't ask permission to put up their sign there. I'm sure it cost our friend hundreds of dollars to replace his.

Why is it that people think if property is in the country, then it's public to use? Belongs to nobody? That things like the grapes and berries are wild? I think they think that since it's in the utility easement that anyone is free to use it. I got news. We own to the middle of the road. That's how our deeds read. Easements for public domain work like electric and gas, don't imply we have no control over every inch of the property in every other respect.

What's wrong with signs? It's my sign, my yard, my opinion. Last time I check the First Amendment hadn't yet been taken away from us.

Karen

I don't think anyone here at least is telling you you have to remove your signs but it is also everyone else's right to have an opinion about them. People can nail a dead cat to their front porch if they want to,but it's my right to turn up my nose in disgust.

I've been thinking about this thread as I've been driving around town doing errands this weekend. It's no secret that I live in the reddest of red states, so it's no surprise that the predominant number of signs are for the GOP. I sometimes wonder why they bother. Are they trying to convince anyone or simply to show their loyalty to the predominant political party?

When I see a sign or bumper sticker for the Democrats, my reaction is one of surprise, combined with curiosity. Do I know who lives in that house or who is driving that car? Then I have some admiration for the people who are bucking the majority tide.

Meanwhile, I'm following the rules of the League of Women Voters & staying signless.

Good going you LOWF ladies,I remember when we lived in Texas. I'd always check the library for the nonpartisan liturature you left on the issues. I also studied them. Here in AR. no one bothers and i have to figure things out myself and use a lot of brainpower i don't have.LOL
I don't have signs or bumper stickers either.Everyone knows how everyone else is going to vote anyway.
My DD and SIL(in Texas) are voting each other out this year.

Thanks! I just delivered the LWV Voters Guides to our libraries on Friday.

I've had a peace dove bumper sticker on my car for about three years. I don't think of it as political, just hopeful and optimistic.

I don't particularly like seeing election signs all over the place, but it is an expression of free speech.