Obama, McCain Signs Mysteriously Vanish

Because You Asked

Around Ashe County, devoted citizens have planted hundreds of signs advertising the candidates for the

upcoming presidential election. Despite the passion and muscle with which these signs were planted, however, many of them have gone missing, causing confusion for Republicans and Democrats alike.

Both believe it to be a sign of the heated competition that has preceded Election Day 2008.

"We've had a lot of people coming into Headquarters and saying that their signs have been disappearing," said Cheryl Wheeler, a volunteer for the Ashe County Republican Party. She said that she planted a handful of signs for McCain in the Lansing area, but was forced to replace them after they disappeared.

She noted that she thinks "people are probably doing it on both sides. It's just an intense election. I think people are just real passionate about this election, and they want their guy to get elected."

Melba Jones, Chair of the Ashe County Democratic Party, described the sign disappearances as "unreal.

"We had 100 Obama signs and we put those out," she said. "In two days, they were almost all gone. Just as fast as we put those out, they're gone." Jones added that in previous years "we've had signs to be stolen, but not this bad."

Lee McMillan, a member of the executive committee for the ACRP, said that he's "never known it to be like this before, this much. Sometimes somebody would tear one down, but why they would take them totally I don't know."

The apparent thievery of the signs is costly for both parties. The signs typically cost between $2 and $6 to produce, depending on the quantity ordered. The shenanigans haven't only involved signs either, as some also claim that bumper stickers have disappeared from local vehicles.

But as the fierce competition between sign-planters and sign-disappearers continues, one must wonder if the impact the signs have on voters is worth all the fuss. Jones believes that they are.

"I've always felt that the signs help," she said, noting that "people would say they didn't know any of the candidates, but they'd seen those signs."

Wheeler said she didn't know if the signs worked, but feels they might help candidates with undecided voters.
"They might actually go by, look at the signs, and then they get in to vote in the booths and it clicks, so it may make some difference," she said.

Roy Elmore, a volunteer with the ACDP, said that the "campaigns generally felt that the money was better spent on television than on yard signs. People up here had been asking for yard signs for several months before we got any." Elmore had obtained an Obama sign in July and placed it in his yard, but said that it went missing two weeks ago.

He wonders if the massive sign disappearances will alter campaign strategies in future elections.

"Maybe this will lead to a diminished number of signs in the future," he said, "if they're that vulnerable to being essentially wasted."

Both parties, for now, had a similar message for their local supporters. Jones said that she would tell anyone who is stealing signs to "not take them, it is against the law.

"It's just very unfortunate that people are like that and people would do that," she continued. "Those signs are very expensive and need to be left where they are."

Wheeler said she "just wishes each party would respect each other and leave the signs alone. We don't tell people to go take up Obama signs. We don't encourage that."

Until the message gets across, local citizens are advised to plant political road signs with caution - and to keep a back-up or two.
-Joel Frady