Letter: After Election Day, Can We Retire The Campaign Signs?

The votes have been cast. Now can we pick up the signs?

A campaign sign has a job to do before an election. Afterward, it is a piece of plastic on somebody’s lawn, a wire frame beside a sidewalk which many trip over because the plastic already came off, or another thing for someone else to collect.

This should not depend on who won. The winning campaign can celebrate and send a cleanup crew. The losing campaign can be disappointed and do the same. Taking responsibility for what you put out is a pretty basic test of public service.

And if a resident volunteered to display a sign, that resident should not have to spend the next few weeks wondering whether anyone is coming back for it.

This is not a demand for a new ordinance, a fine, or another township employee assigned to chase people. It is a request for a simple habit: every campaign that has a plan to put signs up should have a plan to take them down.

Before the next election, arrange pickup routes. Tell volunteers what happens afterward. Give people one place to report a sign that was missed. Do not make the homeowner guess whether the frame is reusable or whether the campaign wants it back.

We ask candidates to take care of our roads, neighborhoods and public spaces. Cleaning up the campaign is a small place to start.

The election does not need to stay planted on the corner until the weather knocks it over.

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