The streets around the capital region are beginning to look a little crowded with signs as a municipal election is to be held on Oct. 17. For Langford resident Deborah Watts, she pays attention to those billboards and says it is an important part of the democratic process. “I want to know who’s running,” said Watts. They are hard to miss throughout the western community, blanketing public boulevards throughout the municipality. Lyle Warren is one of the owners of The Sign Pad, which has just moved into its new location in Langford. “It’s been hair straight back for the past two, three weeks for sure,” said Warren. For his shop, elections are always good for business. “We have done at least three or four thousand signs at this point,” said the co-owner of The Sign Pad. He, along with his 12 staff members, has been working long hours printing, sorting and cutting signs. He says just as his team felt like they had caught up to that initial election rush, Premier Eby called a snap election to be held on Oct. 24. “We obviously didn’t see that one coming,” said Warren. The orders for those provincial signs have yet to begin to roll in, but he knows they are coming. He expects to produce the same amount of campaign signs for the provincial election as he did for the municipal election, meaning the roadways and intersections are about to get a lot more crowded. “On a municipal level, all candidates, but especially new candidates, struggle to attain name recognition,” said Dan Reeves, a political science professor with Camosun College. Reeves says incumbents have a large advantage in terms of name recognition, although it is a delicate dance. “They feel like I can’t leave a space empty because if people who are running against me take that space, I have lost an opportunity,” said Reeves. He says if you are looking for the best way to gauge greater support for a candidate, don’t look at the boulevards but instead at people’s private property. “To me, that’s much more indicative of political strength, and I think that also has sort of a neighbourhood effect,” said the political science professor. Reeves thinks as signs soon begin rolling out for provincial election candidates, postering for available space for signage is going to become very interesting. “I suspect next week we’re going to start to be hit with all the other provincial stuff coming in right away,” said Warren. Which he says his team is prepared for and is sure to keep the ink flowing at The Sign Pad in Langford.
