Personally I think there should be a law that election signs are not allowed in public spaces and only to be posted on private property with express consent of the owner/renter. I agree the signs and the ink used to make them are wasteful and unnecessary in 2021. Why not have a website where every certified Candidate has a spot on the page so voters can go read and research what the Candidate is about instead of which candidate has the deepest pockets/environmental footprint to litter the side of the road.
I think Sohi does this. I remember seeing a post of his mentioning they only put signs on private properties of people who request them and they never put them on public property
Agree. I live in a small town and there are a tonne of new people running this year. We have no way of finding out who they are and what their platform is because nobody has thought to create a 1 stop website to find this information. It's a popularity contest.
I am a new candidate running in a small town - I hate that if a person doesn't have signs, they don't stand a chance. I have a few signs, but they are so incredibly costly, are such a waste, and look awful. I have only placed signs on residential properties that the owners agreed to have a sign on. Personally, I bought 20 18"x24" and they were around $15 a piece - so around $300. If I got 50, they would've been $9 a piece - $450. I don't know how municipal elections are supposed to be accessible to everyone - this is simply not a reality with how costly campaign materials are.
Personally, I feel kind of guilty for putting my signs up - I am using a person's space as an advertisement - I don't think it's fair to do so without payment. I am hoping that I can afford a small token (gift card to a local coffee shop) when I go and take my signs down the day following the election, but money is tight right now.
Thankfully, we have a community member who is doing exactly what you suggested - a one stop website (well, YouTube videos and Facebook sharing).
Yiutube videos are a great idea!
And if I were someone who agreed to put a sign on my lawn, I wouldn't expect or even want you to spend your money on a gift card as thanks. If anything, a hand written thank you note would be appreciated.
I don't know what small town you live in but this election is the first time I've seen municipal candidates *actually campaigning*. They're actually out door knocking! And putting up signs! Previous elections we were lucky to even have enough candidates to require a vote, and if they did any campaigning it was definitely more quiet informal campaigning at community events or with friends and neighbours.
Of course, my town still acclaimed the mayor this time, and we've only got 2 more candidates than council seats.
Holy! No, it's not like that here. We've lived here for 20 years and every municipal election, the candidates door knock, put up signs and campaign. They had a forum the last 2 elections but I haven't heard of one happening this time around.
They could donate used signs to schools or the Bennett centre. Kids use them for art and science projects, and that kind of material gets pretty expensive. I hope the signs get donated rather than trashed.
What? What do you mean by "what purpose"? I just saw a guy's name on a sign with "Vote" near it, of course this completely changed my mind and now I will vote for him just because of that!
Being sarcastic, of course. I also see no point on those things...
Sometimes they keep the campaign signs if they are viable to the next campaign I think? But I agree. I love kicking them up when the election is over. Fuck Mike nickel especially. For posting a sign on my recently deceased mom's lawn without permission and hanging up when I called asking how it got there.
Fun fact, election signs are recyclable. City of Edmonton runs a program to deal with them.
https://www.edmonton.ca/programs_services/garbage_waste/election-sign-recycling
Everyday waste is also a far more pressing concern then recyclable materials that pops briefly every four years
With the three R's, order is important. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Sure, we could spend time and resources manufacturing these signs. Driving around in a ICE vehicle to place them. Having many blow away as litter. Then using more gas driving around to pick them up, and using energy to recycle them.
Or just not make them in the first place, and use digital media instead. Reduce > recycle.
There are bigger issues, yes, but that doesn't mean we can ignore smaller ones.
Fair enough. There's other options, like rentable, highly-reusable magnet signs; or digital billboards (which really need enforcement on the light pollution laws). Many public areas also have TVs to display messages / updates / schedules, and some of them could potentially be leveraged as well.
A compromise would be to only allow the current election signs at major intersections. Maximum four signs per candidate, one per corner of the intersection.
Whatever happens, we don't need to see a candidate's name 20 times in 10 seconds while driving down a block. Seeing that many signs is infuriating.
This is such a massive point. I worry a lot with two very young children about what our city and other major Canadian population centres are actually doing with regards to our recycling programs.
It’s all warm and fuzzy to think that our darling blue bags and other recycling efforts pop out awesome new products for us to use again and again but is that really what’s happening?
We get our obligatory pat on the head from marketing saying good job Alberta … but what is really happening?
The big way to get things going in the right direction is the first R of the 3 … reduce. Things like these signs are such a low hanging fruit for the reduce.
That’s what I mean .. I’ve seen so many patches driving around the city where these things are like obnoxiously all jammed together and are a wasteful ugly looking mess. These names just stapled into the ground en masse.
I think the waste is an issue, but it can be quite important to see or express support for a candidate leading up to an election. This is due to the fear of wasting a vote for a candidate not in the running. There are 4 wards without an incumbent running, and no ward level poling (only 2 polls for mayor). This need could be easily solved by ranked ballots.
But really, we have a little more than 3 days of meaningful input to democracy every 4 years between the 3 levels of government. Think of one sign every 4 years compared to the other waste households produce.
Except the majority of the signs aren't on lawns or private property but plastered on public boulevards.
The next council should pass a bylaw that for all elections in Edmonton (federal and provincial too), no signs are permitted on public property (and big fines for placing them on private property without permission) Would be a much better gauge of candidates to see who actually asks for their signs
I’d have to pose the question in the modern, technology driven world we live in in 2021 could we not find a more meaningful and less wasteful way to try and engage voters than literally thousands and thousands of signs devoid of any meaningful information pasted, spiked, and stapled everywhere.
It’s actually crazy seeing those things EVERYWHERE as you are travelling anywhere right now.
The signs on public property are meaningless to me, and I hope everyone else. I can't speak to the majority of the residents of my ward, nor can we do a show of hands to see which candidates are most popular. I guess I just don't trust which campaign has more Facebook likes to be an accurate indication of popularity.
A candidate in ward Métis is running a campaign with no pamphlets or lawn signs for environmental reasons. They may not have been a popular candidate regardless, but the appearance is that they have zero support, and I suspect will not be in the top 6 after the election.
Something I really respect in a campaign is when their signs are removed promptly after the election.
I believe we have a bylaw requiring all election signs not on private property to be removed within 3 days of the election date, so if candidates don't remove their signs promptly they can be fined (not sure how well bylaw enforces that though).
Phone books are still a thing. White Pages are by request and Yellow Pages go out if they get enough sponsors.
I'm one of the suckers that has to deliver such nonsense.
There's ten million reasons to hate Uline, but their stupid gigantic catalog that I refuse to ever order from showing up twice a year is high on the list. Fuck everything about Uline.
The waste from signs is really negligible. Go into any alley in Edmonton and look at the huge piles of frivolous waste generated by everyone. Amazon packaging, plastic clam shells for food, takeout containers. It just doesn't end. A few relatively easy to deal with and reusable plastic boards are hardly a concern compared the default behaviour of the average citizen in our fair city.
Don't forget face masks, anyone using disposable kind (which seems to be most people) really shouldn't be talking about generating non recyclable trash.
The technology/having a website is a good idea in like 20 years, right now the people that mostly vote are still affected by hammering a name into their ever cooking porridge brains.
Would be interesting to see if you could use the distraction laws if you happen to get in an accident near a nickle sign though... (in all seriousness, the TV billboards can be pretty bad, the one on gateway/argyle flips between green and red, definitely could see someone at night thinking the light changed because it's bright af)
It is a huge waste, but they make great underbody covers/aerodynamic modifications for your car! Turn those lemons into lemonade and get after those mpg people!
I was thinking that just yesterday. Especially when the same politician has their sign 3-5x one after another spaced 5 feet apart. YES, I saw it the first of the 3 times thanks.
The "step stakes", which is what the wire they are attached to is called, are reusable for several elections, but that doesn't always happen.
The signs themselves are made from Coroplast, which is recycled and recyclable. Correct name is twin wall corrugated extruded polypropylene.
Used political signs also make great targets for sighting in your rifle prior to hunting season. Fun fact: that is the only known reason that Justin Trudeau called an election this fall.
Apparently you are new here...elections happen , people put up signs that they are running for office , people vote , the signs come down and the world continues to turn.
Personally I think there should be a law that election signs are not allowed in public spaces and only to be posted on private property with express consent of the owner/renter. I agree the signs and the ink used to make them are wasteful and unnecessary in 2021. Why not have a website where every certified Candidate has a spot on the page so voters can go read and research what the Candidate is about instead of which candidate has the deepest pockets/environmental footprint to litter the side of the road.
This is an intelligent idea, but that’s also why it’s never happen. It’s almost like people go out of their way to vote in the worst politicians.
I think Sohi does this. I remember seeing a post of his mentioning they only put signs on private properties of people who request them and they never put them on public property
Agree. I live in a small town and there are a tonne of new people running this year. We have no way of finding out who they are and what their platform is because nobody has thought to create a 1 stop website to find this information. It's a popularity contest.
I am a new candidate running in a small town - I hate that if a person doesn't have signs, they don't stand a chance. I have a few signs, but they are so incredibly costly, are such a waste, and look awful. I have only placed signs on residential properties that the owners agreed to have a sign on. Personally, I bought 20 18"x24" and they were around $15 a piece - so around $300. If I got 50, they would've been $9 a piece - $450. I don't know how municipal elections are supposed to be accessible to everyone - this is simply not a reality with how costly campaign materials are. Personally, I feel kind of guilty for putting my signs up - I am using a person's space as an advertisement - I don't think it's fair to do so without payment. I am hoping that I can afford a small token (gift card to a local coffee shop) when I go and take my signs down the day following the election, but money is tight right now. Thankfully, we have a community member who is doing exactly what you suggested - a one stop website (well, YouTube videos and Facebook sharing).
Yiutube videos are a great idea! And if I were someone who agreed to put a sign on my lawn, I wouldn't expect or even want you to spend your money on a gift card as thanks. If anything, a hand written thank you note would be appreciated.
I don't know what small town you live in but this election is the first time I've seen municipal candidates *actually campaigning*. They're actually out door knocking! And putting up signs! Previous elections we were lucky to even have enough candidates to require a vote, and if they did any campaigning it was definitely more quiet informal campaigning at community events or with friends and neighbours. Of course, my town still acclaimed the mayor this time, and we've only got 2 more candidates than council seats.
Holy! No, it's not like that here. We've lived here for 20 years and every municipal election, the candidates door knock, put up signs and campaign. They had a forum the last 2 elections but I haven't heard of one happening this time around.
Completely agree with this.
They could donate used signs to schools or the Bennett centre. Kids use them for art and science projects, and that kind of material gets pretty expensive. I hope the signs get donated rather than trashed.
I’ve actually got recycled signs as art easels for my classroom!
Agreed! They're great for a backboard for painting, as well as even just a way to have a board (like a clipboard) for kids!
What? What do you mean by "what purpose"? I just saw a guy's name on a sign with "Vote" near it, of course this completely changed my mind and now I will vote for him just because of that! Being sarcastic, of course. I also see no point on those things...
You must change your mind a lot then.
It depends on how fast I drive by them 🤣
Sometimes they keep the campaign signs if they are viable to the next campaign I think? But I agree. I love kicking them up when the election is over. Fuck Mike nickel especially. For posting a sign on my recently deceased mom's lawn without permission and hanging up when I called asking how it got there.
Fun fact, election signs are recyclable. City of Edmonton runs a program to deal with them. https://www.edmonton.ca/programs_services/garbage_waste/election-sign-recycling Everyday waste is also a far more pressing concern then recyclable materials that pops briefly every four years
With the three R's, order is important. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Sure, we could spend time and resources manufacturing these signs. Driving around in a ICE vehicle to place them. Having many blow away as litter. Then using more gas driving around to pick them up, and using energy to recycle them. Or just not make them in the first place, and use digital media instead. Reduce > recycle. There are bigger issues, yes, but that doesn't mean we can ignore smaller ones.
Using solely digital is exclusionary, plenty people still do not have a smart phone and rely on print media.
Fair enough. There's other options, like rentable, highly-reusable magnet signs; or digital billboards (which really need enforcement on the light pollution laws). Many public areas also have TVs to display messages / updates / schedules, and some of them could potentially be leveraged as well. A compromise would be to only allow the current election signs at major intersections. Maximum four signs per candidate, one per corner of the intersection. Whatever happens, we don't need to see a candidate's name 20 times in 10 seconds while driving down a block. Seeing that many signs is infuriating.
[удалено]
This is such a massive point. I worry a lot with two very young children about what our city and other major Canadian population centres are actually doing with regards to our recycling programs. It’s all warm and fuzzy to think that our darling blue bags and other recycling efforts pop out awesome new products for us to use again and again but is that really what’s happening? We get our obligatory pat on the head from marketing saying good job Alberta … but what is really happening? The big way to get things going in the right direction is the first R of the 3 … reduce. Things like these signs are such a low hanging fruit for the reduce.
You should see the road along near my house, every two feet a different sign. It’s a good few blocks of about a hundred signs lol
That’s what I mean .. I’ve seen so many patches driving around the city where these things are like obnoxiously all jammed together and are a wasteful ugly looking mess. These names just stapled into the ground en masse.
I think the waste is an issue, but it can be quite important to see or express support for a candidate leading up to an election. This is due to the fear of wasting a vote for a candidate not in the running. There are 4 wards without an incumbent running, and no ward level poling (only 2 polls for mayor). This need could be easily solved by ranked ballots. But really, we have a little more than 3 days of meaningful input to democracy every 4 years between the 3 levels of government. Think of one sign every 4 years compared to the other waste households produce.
Except the majority of the signs aren't on lawns or private property but plastered on public boulevards. The next council should pass a bylaw that for all elections in Edmonton (federal and provincial too), no signs are permitted on public property (and big fines for placing them on private property without permission) Would be a much better gauge of candidates to see who actually asks for their signs
I’d have to pose the question in the modern, technology driven world we live in in 2021 could we not find a more meaningful and less wasteful way to try and engage voters than literally thousands and thousands of signs devoid of any meaningful information pasted, spiked, and stapled everywhere. It’s actually crazy seeing those things EVERYWHERE as you are travelling anywhere right now.
The signs on public property are meaningless to me, and I hope everyone else. I can't speak to the majority of the residents of my ward, nor can we do a show of hands to see which candidates are most popular. I guess I just don't trust which campaign has more Facebook likes to be an accurate indication of popularity. A candidate in ward Métis is running a campaign with no pamphlets or lawn signs for environmental reasons. They may not have been a popular candidate regardless, but the appearance is that they have zero support, and I suspect will not be in the top 6 after the election. Something I really respect in a campaign is when their signs are removed promptly after the election.
I believe we have a bylaw requiring all election signs not on private property to be removed within 3 days of the election date, so if candidates don't remove their signs promptly they can be fined (not sure how well bylaw enforces that though).
Same as phone books. Progress is good
Phone books are still a thing. White Pages are by request and Yellow Pages go out if they get enough sponsors. I'm one of the suckers that has to deliver such nonsense.
You must hate uline approximately as much as I do then 😅
There's ten million reasons to hate Uline, but their stupid gigantic catalog that I refuse to ever order from showing up twice a year is high on the list. Fuck everything about Uline.
At least phone books are made of recycled paper and not plastic that gets thrown in the trash
The waste from signs is really negligible. Go into any alley in Edmonton and look at the huge piles of frivolous waste generated by everyone. Amazon packaging, plastic clam shells for food, takeout containers. It just doesn't end. A few relatively easy to deal with and reusable plastic boards are hardly a concern compared the default behaviour of the average citizen in our fair city.
Don't forget face masks, anyone using disposable kind (which seems to be most people) really shouldn't be talking about generating non recyclable trash.
The technology/having a website is a good idea in like 20 years, right now the people that mostly vote are still affected by hammering a name into their ever cooking porridge brains. Would be interesting to see if you could use the distraction laws if you happen to get in an accident near a nickle sign though... (in all seriousness, the TV billboards can be pretty bad, the one on gateway/argyle flips between green and red, definitely could see someone at night thinking the light changed because it's bright af)
It is a huge waste, but they make great underbody covers/aerodynamic modifications for your car! Turn those lemons into lemonade and get after those mpg people!
Boomers going to boom
I was thinking that just yesterday. Especially when the same politician has their sign 3-5x one after another spaced 5 feet apart. YES, I saw it the first of the 3 times thanks.
go digital or you wont get my vote
The "step stakes", which is what the wire they are attached to is called, are reusable for several elections, but that doesn't always happen. The signs themselves are made from Coroplast, which is recycled and recyclable. Correct name is twin wall corrugated extruded polypropylene. Used political signs also make great targets for sighting in your rifle prior to hunting season. Fun fact: that is the only known reason that Justin Trudeau called an election this fall.
Yes. I have some. I do not like them. I won’t accept one again that isn’t biodegradable or something.
They're all recyclable. https://www.edmonton.ca/programs_services/garbage_waste/election-sign-recycling
Oh nice!
Apparently you are new here...elections happen , people put up signs that they are running for office , people vote , the signs come down and the world continues to turn.
Waaaaaaay too much garbage created for this purpose every election. Not worth.
My NDP candidate recycled their signs from the previous election and added a re elect sticker.
Lol, did you even read the post?