Campaign Signs Take Over Corners, Lawns

Election season is in high gear, and the evidence is most likely staring you in the face every time you drive to work or the local convenience store - campaign signs, flooding street corners, busy intersections and residents' lawns.

In most cases, these signs offer little to no information about a candidate. However, they can be quite helpful for those in need of votes, depending on the race.

"Signs can be effective for local races where there's very limited other information to cue voters as to how to vote," said Larry Butler, political science professor at Rowan University. "Those candidates have very little money. That sign can get their name out there."

The name alone could be enough for voters at the polls who have no real knowledge of the candidates.

Signs have even more power when they're placed in front of people's homes, Butler said.

"They show that a specific person is supporting that candidate," he said. "Neighbors then know that somebody they know and somebody they like is supporting that candidate."

Bigger and more popular races, such as congressional and gubernatorial, depend less on placing signs at every corner. Those campaigns have better, and more expensive, ways to get messages out to the voters.